Shloka 206
Adhyāya 6: Śibira-dvāra-sthita Bhūta-varṇana and Aśvatthāmā’s Śaraṇāgati to Mahādeva
स पथ: प्रच्युतो धर्मात् कुपथे प्रतिहन्यते । 'जो मूर्ख शास्त्रदर्शी पुरुषोंकी आज्ञाका उल्लंघन करके दूसरोंकी हिंसा करना चाहता है, वह धर्ममार्गसे भ्रष्ट हो कुमार्गमें पड़कर स्वयं ही मारा जाता है
sa pathaḥ pracyuto dharmāt kupathe pratihanyate |
Sañjaya said: One who has fallen away from dharma strays from the true path; entering a wrongful course, he is struck down there—destroyed by the very violence and lawlessness he chooses. The fool who defies the commands of wise men, grounded in the scriptures, and seeks to harm others, slips from the way of righteousness, falls into the evil road, and is slain by his own deed.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Deviation from dharma—especially choosing violence against others while disregarding the counsel of śāstra-guided wise persons—leads to one’s own downfall. The verse presents adharma not merely as a social wrong but as a path that rebounds upon the doer with ruin.
In the Sauptika Parva’s grim aftermath of war, Sañjaya articulates a moral judgment: those who abandon righteous conduct and pursue wrongful means (such as harmful aggression) end up being ‘struck down’ on that very path, underscoring the ethical reckoning that follows acts of adharma.