Shloka 383
द्रोणपर्व — अध्याय १६२: प्रातःसंध्यायां युद्धप्रवृत्तिः तथा रजोमेघे संमूढता
स वध्य: सर्वलोकस्य यथा त्वं पुरुषाधम: । 'जो ब्राह्मण ब्राह्मणत्वका परित्याग करके क्षत्रियधर्ममें तत्पर हो, जैसा कि मनुष्योंमें अधम तू है, वह सब लोगोंके लिये वध्य है”
sa vadhyaḥ sarvalokasya yathā tvaṃ puruṣādhamaḥ | yo brāhmaṇaḥ brāhmaṇatvaṃ parityajya kṣatriyadharme tatparaḥ, yathā manuṣyeṣv adhama tvaṃ, sa sarvalokebhyo vadhyaḥ ||
Sañjaya said: “He is fit to be slain by all people—just as you, the basest among men. Any Brahmin who abandons the state and discipline of Brahminhood and becomes intent on the warrior’s code, as you do in your depravity, becomes a legitimate target in the eyes of the whole world.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse asserts a strict ethical view of varṇa-dharma: abandoning one’s ordained discipline (here, Brahminhood) to pursue the warrior’s path is portrayed as a grave transgression, inviting universal censure and even lethal sanction. It frames moral legitimacy in war not only by battlefield conduct but by fidelity to one’s rightful duty.
Sañjaya delivers a harsh denunciation to a addressed “you,” calling him the lowest of men and declaring that a Brahmin who has forsaken Brahmin conduct to act as a Kshatriya becomes ‘vadhya’—a target deemed punishable by all. The line functions as moral condemnation amid the Drona Parva’s escalating violence and contested legitimacy.