Shloka 1
अपन कराता बछ। अंक सप्तषष्टितमो< ध्याय: राष्ट्रकी रक्षा और उन्नतिके लिये राजाकी आवश्यकताका प्रतिपादन युधिष्ठिर उवाच चातुराश्रम्यमुक्तं ते चातुर्वर्ण्य तथैव च । राष्ट्रस्य यत् कृत्यतमं ततो ब्रूहि पितामह,राजा युधिष्ठिरने कहा--पितामह! आपने चारों आश्रमों और चारों वर्णोंके धर्म बतलाये। अब आप मुझे यह बताइये कि समूचे राष्ट्रका--उस राष्ट्रमें निवास करनेवाले प्रत्येक नागरिकका मुख्य कार्य क्या है?
Yudhiṣṭhira uvāca | cāturāśramyam uktaṁ te cāturvarṇyaṁ tathaiva ca | rāṣṭrasya yat kṛtyatamaṁ tato brūhi pitāmaha ||
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “Grandfather, you have explained to me the duties of the four āśramas and likewise of the four varṇas. Now tell me, O Pitāmaha, what is the foremost obligation of a kingdom—what is the most essential task for the welfare of the entire realm and all who live within it?”
युधिष्ठिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
After hearing the frameworks of āśrama- and varṇa-dharma, Yudhiṣṭhira seeks the single most crucial duty of the state—implying that social and personal duties require a stable, protected realm and that governance has a paramount ethical responsibility toward the common good.
In the Śānti Parva dialogue on dharma, Yudhiṣṭhira addresses Bhīṣma as ‘Pitāmaha’ and, having received instruction on the four āśramas and four varṇas, asks him to state what is the highest and most necessary task of the kingdom as a whole.