Mahabharata — Shanti Parva, Shloka 793
Dama-pradhāna-dharma (Self-restraint as the Root of Dharma) — Śānti-parva 154
अधर्ममनृतं चैव दूरात् प्राज्ञो विवर्जयेत् बुद्धिमान् पुरुषको अप्रिय आचरण, कठोर वचन दूसरोंके साथ द्रोह, परायी स्त्री, अधर्म और असत्य-भाषणका दूरसे ही परित्याग कर देना चाहिये
adharmam anṛtaṃ caiva dūrāt prājño vivarjayet | buddhimān puruṣo 'priyācaraṇaṃ kaṭhora-vacanaṃ pareṣu drohaṃ parastrīṃ cādharmam anṛta-bhāṣaṇaṃ ca dūrata eva parityajet ||
Jambuka said: “A wise person should keep far away from unrighteousness and falsehood. A discerning man ought to abandon from a distance itself: conduct that is hateful, harsh speech, treachery toward others, another man’s wife, and the twin evils of adharma and lying.”
जम्बुक उवाच
Educational Q&A
The core teaching is proactive moral avoidance: a wise person should keep far away from adharma and untruth, and renounce harmful habits—hateful conduct, harsh speech, betrayal, illicit relations, and lying—before they take hold.
In the Shanti Parva’s didactic setting, Jambuka speaks as a moral instructor, listing specific vices to be shunned as part of a broader discourse on righteous living and the cultivation of character after the war.