Shloka 19
अध्याय ७२ — राजधर्मः: प्रजारक्षण, कर-नीति, दण्ड-नीति, अमात्य-नियोजन
Chapter 72 — Royal Duty: protection of subjects, taxation, punishment, and appointments
दोग्ध्री धान्यं हिरण्यं च मही राज्ञा सुरक्षिता । नित्य॑ स्वेभ्य: परेभ्यश्न तृप्ता माता यथा पय:
dogdhrī dhānyaṃ hiraṇyaṃ ca mahī rājñā surakṣitā | nityaṃ svebhyaḥ parebhyaś ca tṛptā mātā yathā payaḥ ||
Bhīṣma said: When the king rightly protects the earth, she—like a milch-cow—unceasingly yields grain and gold. As a mother, herself satisfied, gives milk to her child as desired, so the well-guarded land grants sustenance and wealth to the king’s own people and to others as well.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Prosperity is not accidental: when a ruler protects and governs the land rightly, the earth becomes productive and yields food and wealth for all. Protection (surakṣā) is presented as the ethical condition for abundance.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on rājadharma, Bhīṣma advises the king by using a domestic analogy: like a satisfied mother who can freely nourish her child with milk, the earth—when safeguarded by the king—continuously provides grain and gold to the king’s people and even to others.