Shloka 1
Chapter 78: Royal Responsibility for Wealth, Social Order, and the Protection of Dvijas
Kekaya Exemplum
/ (दाक्षिणात्य अधिक पाठके ४ श्लोक मिलाकर कुल १८ श्लोक हैं) अपन का छा | अफ-#-रू- सप्तसप्ततितमो<ध्याय: केकयराज तथा राक्षसका उपाख्यान और केकयराज्यकी श्रेष्ठताका विस्तृत वर्णन युधिषछ्िर उवाच केषां प्रभवते राजा वित्तस्य भरतर्षभ । कया च वृत्त्या वर्तेत तन्मे ब्रूहि पितामह
Yudhiṣṭhira uvāca: keṣāṃ prabhavate rājā vittasya bharatarṣabha | kayā ca vṛttyā varteta tan me brūhi pitāmaha ||
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “O best of the Bharatas, from whom does a king obtain wealth? And by what mode of conduct should he sustain himself and rule? Tell me this, O Grandsire.”
युधिषछ्िर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a central concern of rājadharma: a king’s wealth must have legitimate sources and his personal and administrative conduct (vṛtti) must be ethically grounded, since revenue and rule are inseparable from dharma.
In the Śānti Parva dialogue, Yudhiṣṭhira approaches Bhīṣma as an authority on statecraft and morality, asking how kings rightly acquire wealth and what standard of conduct they should follow in sustaining the kingdom.