Shloka 346
Draupadī’s Exhortation on Rājadharma and Daṇḍa (द्रौपद्याः राजधर्मोपदेशः)
भेषजै: स चिकित्स: स्याद् य उन्मार्गेण गच्छति । जो मूर्ख इस प्रकारका काम करता है
bheṣajaiḥ sa cikitsaḥ syād ya unmārgeṇa gacchati |
Vaiśampāyana said: One who has strayed onto a wrong path should be treated with medicines—like a person whose mind has become deranged. The ethical point is that misguided, deluded conduct does not lead to welfare; therefore, such a person should be corrected through appropriate remedial measures rather than being left to continue in error.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
A person who has deviated into wrongful conduct is like someone mentally disoriented; the proper response is corrective treatment—remedies that restore right understanding and behavior—because deluded action does not yield true welfare.
Vaiśampāyana, in the didactic flow of Śānti Parva, frames moral deviation as a kind of illness: when someone proceeds on an ‘unmārga’ (wrong path), they are to be brought back through appropriate ‘bheṣaja’ (remedial measures), emphasizing reform over abandonment.