Shloka 21

Devanagari script

यथा वै ब्राह्मण: सीदन्नयाज्यमपि याजयेत्‌ । अभोज्यान्नानि चाश्रीयात्‌ तथेदं नात्र संशय:,जैसे ब्राह्मण यदि जीविकाके अभावमें कष्ट पा रहा हो तो वह यज्ञके अनधिकारीसे भी यज्ञ करा सकता है तथा प्राण बचानेके लिये न खाने योग्य अन्नको भी खा सकता है, उसी प्रकार यह (पूर्वश्लोकमें) क्षत्रियके लिये भी कर्तव्यका निर्देश किया गया है। इसमें संशय नहीं है

Transliteration

yathā vai brāhmaṇaḥ sīdann ayājyam api yājayet | abhojyānnāni cāśrīyāt tathā idaṃ nātra saṃśayaḥ ||

Translation

Bhīṣma said: “Just as a brāhmaṇa, when sinking into distress for lack of livelihood, may even officiate a sacrifice for one who is ordinarily unfit to sponsor it, and may even resort to food that is normally forbidden in order to preserve life—so too, in the same way, the duty prescribed in the previous verse for a kṣatriya is to be understood. There is no doubt about this.”

Word by Word

यथाjust as

वैindeed

ब्राह्मणःa Brahmin

सीदन्being in distress / suffering

अयाज्यम्one who is not fit to be sacrificed for / not eligible (to have a sacrifice performed)

अपिeven

याजयेत्should cause to perform a sacrifice / should officiate a sacrifice for

अभोज्यान्नानिinedible foods / foods not fit to be eaten

चand

आश्रीयात्should resort to / should take (for support)

तथाso / likewise

इदम्this

नnot

अत्रhere / in this matter

संशयःdoubt

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhīṣma

brāhmaṇa

kṣatriya

yajña (sacrifice)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

In extreme hardship (āpaddharma), preserving life and sustaining one’s role may justify limited exceptions to normal rules—such as a brāhmaṇa officiating for an ordinarily ineligible patron or eating normally forbidden food—paralleling emergency duties prescribed for a kṣatriya.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhīṣma, instructing on dharma in the Śānti Parva, clarifies that the previous instruction about a kṣatriya’s conduct in crisis should be accepted without doubt, using the brāhmaṇa’s emergency allowances as an analogy.