Shloka 12
मोक्षोपाय-निर्णयः
Determination of the Means to Liberation
न मूलघात: कर्तव्यो नैष धर्म: सनातन: । अपि स्वल्पवधेनैव प्रायश्षित्तं विधीयते,इसलिये दुष्टोंको प्राणदण्ड देकर उनका मूलोच्छेद नहीं करना चाहिये। किसीकी जड़ उखाड़ना सनातन धर्म नहीं है। अपराधके अनुरूप साधारण दण्ड देना चाहिये, उसीसे अपराधीके पापोंका प्रायश्चित हो जाता है
dyumatsena uvāca |
na mūlaghātaḥ kartavyo naiṣa dharmaḥ sanātanaḥ |
api svalpavadhenaiva prāyaścittaṃ vidhīyate ||
Dyumatsena said: “One should not strike at the root—one should not seek total annihilation. Such a course is not the eternal dharma. Even by a light, proportionate punishment, expiation is accomplished; the offender’s sin is thereby worked off.”
इुमत्सेन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Punishment should be proportionate and corrective, not exterminatory. Uprooting a person or group through total destruction is rejected as contrary to sanātana-dharma; mild, fitting chastisement can function as prāyaścitta (moral expiation) for wrongdoing.
In the didactic setting of Śānti Parva, Dyumatsena offers counsel on governance and moral discipline, arguing against ‘root-destruction’ (mūlaghāta) and in favor of measured penalties that reform and purify the offender.