Shloka 1
कपोत-लुब्धकसंवादः — Hunter’s Remorse and Renunciatory Resolve
अपन का छा ] अतकडऑकाडज द्विचत्वारिशर्दाधिकशततमो< ध्याय: आपत्कालमें राजाके धर्मका निश्चय तथा उत्तम ब्राह्मणोंके सेवनका आदेश युधिछिर उवाच यदि घोर समुद्िष्टमश्रद्धेयमिवानृतम् । अस्ति स्विद् दस्युमर्यादा यामहं परिवर्जये
Yudhiṣṭhira uvāca | yadi ghoraṃ samudiṣṭam aśraddheyam ivānṛtam | asti svid dasyu-maryādā yām ahaṃ parivarjaye ||
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “If even for the noble a deed so dreadful—seeming unbelievable, almost like falsehood—has been prescribed as a duty in times of crisis, then what boundary of wrongdoing remains for robbers and bandits? Tell me: what is that limit which I should always renounce?”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even when emergency-dharma (āpaddharma) permits harsh actions, one must still ask whether any inviolable moral boundary remains; Yudhiṣṭhira insists that dharma cannot become indistinguishable from criminality.
In the Śānti Parva’s discussion of conduct in calamity, Yudhiṣṭhira challenges the idea that extremely severe acts can be ‘duty’ in crisis, asking what line separates righteous necessity from the behavior of bandits.