Shloka 57
Daṇḍotpatti-kathana (Origin and Function of Daṇḍa) — वसुहोम–मान्धातृ संवाद
यश्ष वेद: स वै धर्मो यक्ष धर्म: स सत्पथ: । ब्रह्मा पितामहः पूर्व बभूवाथ प्रजापति:
yaś ca vedaḥ sa vai dharmo yaś ca dharmaḥ sa satpathaḥ | brahmā pitāmahaḥ pūrvaṃ babhūvātha prajāpatiḥ ||
Bhishma said: “That which is the Veda is indeed Dharma; and that which is Dharma is the true path followed by the righteous. First among beings to manifest was Brahmā—the Grandsire—who is also Prajāpati, the progenitor of creatures.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse equates Vedic revelation with Dharma and identifies Dharma as the satpatha—the normative path of the virtuous—grounding ethical life in sacred knowledge and its sustaining order.
In Bhishma’s instruction during the Shanti Parva, he frames the authority of Dharma by linking it to the Veda and then invokes Brahmā (Prajāpati, the Grandsire) as the primordial source figure associated with the origination of beings and the tradition of righteous order.