Shloka 66
राजधर्मः, दण्डनीतिः, कर्तृत्व-विचारः च
Royal Duty, Lawful Discipline, and the Question of Agency
पापान् सर्वैरुपायैस्तान् नियच्छेच्छातयीत वा । जो मोहके वशीभूत हो प्रमाणभूत धर्म और उसका प्रतिपादन करनेवाले शास्त्रको अमान्य कर दें
pāpān sarvair upāyais tān niyacchec chātayīta vā | yo mohake vaśībhūto hi pramāṇabhūtaṃ dharmaṃ ca tasya pratipādakaṃ śāstraṃ cāmanīkurute, sa sevako vā putro vā tapasvī vā anyo vā; sarvopāyaiḥ tān pāpino damayet athavā nighnīyāt |
Vyāsa said: By every available means one should restrain such sinners—or, if necessary, destroy them. Whoever, overcome by delusion, rejects Dharma that stands as an authority and also the scriptures that expound it—whether he be a servant, a son, an ascetic, or anyone else—must be suppressed by all measures, or else eliminated.
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
Dharma and the śāstras that articulate it are presented as binding authorities for social and moral life. Those who, out of delusion, actively repudiate these foundations are to be restrained firmly; and if they remain dangerous and incorrigible, the text allows extreme measures to protect the moral order.
In the didactic setting of Śānti Parva, Vyāsa delivers a governance-and-ethics instruction: he classifies certain people as harmful—namely, those who deny authoritative Dharma and scripture—and advises decisive suppression regardless of their social role (servant, son, ascetic, etc.).