Shloka 32
मृदु-तीक्ष्ण-नीति तथा दुष्टलक्षण-विज्ञानम्
Measured Policy and the Recognition of Malicious Disposition
न हाातो दुष्करं कर्म किंचिदस्ति सुरोत्तम । यथा विविधवृत्तानामैश्वर्यममराधिप
na hi ato duṣkaraṁ karma kiñcid asti surottama | yathā vividhavṛttānām aiśvaryam amarādhipa devēśvara suraśreṣṭha ||
Bhīṣma said: “O best of the gods! There is no task more difficult than this: to exercise sovereign authority over people of many different temperaments and ways of conduct. To govern such diverse-minded, worldly-wise men is harder than any other undertaking.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that the hardest duty of a ruler is not conquest or ritual, but the ethical and practical challenge of governing people with varied dispositions and behaviors; true sovereignty requires discernment, restraint, and skill in dealing with diversity.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on rājadharma, Bhīṣma addresses the king (Yudhiṣṭhira) and, by invoking epithets of the lord of the gods (Indra), emphasizes that administering power over a heterogeneous society is an exceptionally difficult responsibility.