Shloka 26
एवं चाधार्मिका: पापा: पठ्चाला भिन्नसेतव: । तानेवं भिन्नमर्यादान् कि भवान् न निगहति
evaṁ cādhārmikāḥ pāpāḥ pāñcālā bhinnasetavaḥ | tān evaṁ bhinnamaryādān kiṁ bhavān na nigṛhṇāti ||
Thus, too, the Pāñcālas are sinful and unrighteous—people who have broken the very embankments of moral order. When those men have so violated all bounds, why do you not restrain them?
कृप उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames ethical judgment in terms of maryādā (moral limits): when a group is perceived to have violated dharma, the speaker argues that restraint and accountability (nigraha) are justified, even necessary, within a war-ethics context.
Kṛpa is speaking amid the tense aftermath of the Kurukṣetra war (Sauptika Parva), criticizing the Pāṇḍavas and their allies the Pāñcālas as boundary-breakers and questioning why they are not being checked or condemned—an argument used to press for a retaliatory stance.