Shloka 17
Adhyāya 55 — Yudhiṣṭhira’s Hesitation and Bhīṣma’s Authorization of Inquiry
Rājadharma Prelude
यो लोभान्न समीक्षेत धर्मसेतुं सनातनम् | निहन्ति यस्तं समरे क्षत्रियो वै स धर्मवित्,जो लोभवश सनातन धर्ममर्यादाकी ओर दृष्टिपात नहीं करता, उसे जो क्षत्रिय समरभूमिमें मार गिराता है, वह निश्चय ही धर्मज्ञ है
bhīṣma uvāca | yo lobhān na samīkṣeta dharmasetuṃ sanātanam | nihanti yas taṃ samare kṣatriyo vai sa dharmavit ||
Bhishma said: He who, out of greed, does not even look toward the eternal bridge of dharma—when such a man is struck down on the battlefield by a Kshatriya, that Kshatriya is indeed to be regarded as a knower of dharma.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
A warrior’s violence is not automatically unrighteous; when it is exercised as kshatriya-duty against a person who, driven by greed, disregards the eternal moral boundary (dharma-setu), that act can be dharmic. The verse frames dharma as a stable, protective order, and condemns greed as a force that blinds one to it.
Bhishma is instructing on dharma in the Shanti Parva. Here he describes a type of wrongdoer—one who ignores dharma’s enduring limits due to greed—and states that a Kshatriya who kills such a person in battle is to be considered a knower of dharma, emphasizing the moral rationale for righteous warfare.