Shloka 21
नैव दस्युर्मनुष्याणां न देवानामिति श्रुति: । न गन्धर्वपितृणां च कः कस्येह न कश्नन,सुननेमें आया है कि डाकू मनुष्यों, देवताओं, गन्धर्वों अथवा पितरोंमेंसे किसीका आत्मीय नहीं होता। इतना ही नहीं, इस संसारमें कौन लुटेरा किसका है, यह प्रश्न ही नहीं उठ सकता। कोई डाकू किसीका नहीं होता है, यही कहना यथार्थ है
naiva dasyur manuṣyāṇāṁ na devānām iti śrutiḥ | na gandharva-pitṝṇāṁ ca kaḥ kasyeha na kaścana ||
Humat-sena said: “Scriptural tradition declares that a bandit belongs to no one—neither to human beings nor to the gods, nor even to the Gandharvas or the Pitṛs. In this world, no one can truly claim, ‘This robber is mine’; a robber is, in reality, nobody’s own.”
हुमत्सेन उवाच
Educational Q&A
A life of plunder severs genuine social and moral belonging: a robber cannot be claimed as ‘one of ours’ by any community—human, divine, or ancestral. The verse underscores that wrongdoing isolates the doer from rightful affiliation and protection.
Humat-sena is stating a general dharma-principle in the didactic setting of the Śānti Parva: he cites ‘śruti’ (authoritative tradition) to argue that a bandit has no legitimate claimant or protector, framing the ethical status of criminals as outside normal bonds of kinship and allegiance.