Shloka 26
Rājā–Rāja-Śabda-Prabhavaḥ — The Origin and Rationale of Kingship and Daṇḍanīti
अधो हि वर्षमस्माकं नरास्तूर्ध्वप्रवर्षिण: । क्रियाव्युपरमात् तेषां ततो गच्छाम संशयम्
adho hi varṣam asmākaṃ narās tūrdhva-pravarṣiṇaḥ | kriyā-vyuparamāt teṣāṃ tato gacchāma saṃśayam ||
Bhīṣma said: “For us, the rain seems to fall downward, while those men appear to have rain falling upward. When their ritual and rightful activity comes to a halt, then we too, without doubt, proceed to the same fate.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma emphasizes moral causality: when prescribed duties and sustaining rites (kriyā) are abandoned, the resulting disorder does not remain isolated—its consequences spread, drawing others into the same decline and fate.
In the didactic discourse of Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma uses a vivid, paradoxical image—rain falling ‘downward’ for some and ‘upward’ for others—to underline a world turned upside down. He links this inversion to the cessation of proper action and ritual observance, warning that such breakdown inevitably leads to shared ruin.