Shloka 19
राजधर्मः, दण्डनीतिः, कर्तृत्व-विचारः च
Royal Duty, Lawful Discipline, and the Question of Agency
राजन्! कोई कहीं भी दैवके विधानका उल्लंघन नहीं कर सकता। अतः दण्ड अथवा शस्त्रद्वारा किया हुआ पाप किसी पुरुषको लागू नहीं हो सकता (क्योंकि वे दैवाधीन होकर ही दण्ड या शस्त्रद्वारा मारे गये हैं) ।।
yadi vā manyase rājan hatam ekaṃ pratiṣṭhitam | evam apy aśubhaṃ karma na bhūtaṃ na bhaviṣyati ||
Vyāsa said: “O King, no one anywhere can transgress the ordinance of destiny. Therefore, the sin committed through punishment or through weapons cannot be fastened upon a person. And if you still suppose that the slaying of even a single person stands as a fixed, personal guilt, even then no truly evil deed is thereby established—neither as something that has occurred nor as something that will occur. For no one can violate the decree of destiny; those who are struck down by punishment or by weapons fall under what is divinely determined, and thus the burden of sin is not imputed in the same way as a willful, lawless act.”
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse argues that when events unfold under daiva (destiny/ordained order), the moral imputation of ‘sin’ for killing by punishment or weapons is not straightforward; even if one insists a killing is ‘established’ as a fact, it does not automatically become an aśubha (evil) act in the sense of willful wrongdoing.
Vyāsa addresses a king, reasoning about the ethics of violence and punishment. He frames death in battle or by royal punishment as occurring under the larger ordinance of destiny, aiming to resolve the king’s doubt or remorse about culpability.