Shloka 18
आपद्धर्मे वैश्यवृत्तिः, विक्रय-निषेधाः, तथा ब्रह्म-क्षत्र-सम्बन्धः
Emergency Livelihood, Prohibited Trade, and Brahman–Kshatra Regulation
उन्मयदि प्रवृत्ते तु दस्युभि: संकरे कृते । सर्वे वर्णा न दुष्येयु: शस्त्रवन्तो युधिष्ठिर,युधिष्ठिर! जब डाकू और लुटेरे धर्ममर्यादाका उल्लड्घन करके स्वेच्छाचारमें प्रवृत्त हुए हों और प्रजामें वर्णसंकरता फैला रहे हों, उस समय इस अत्याचारको रोकनेके लिये यदि सभी वर्णोके लोग हथियार उठा लें तो उन्हें कोई दोष नहीं लगता
unmadi pravṛtte tu dasyubhiḥ saṅkare kṛte | sarve varṇā na duṣyeyuḥ śastravanto yudhiṣṭhira ||
Bhishma said: “O Yudhiṣṭhira, when bandits, driven by lawless frenzy, violate the bounds of dharma and create social confusion and intermixture, then if people of all the varṇas take up weapons to restrain that oppression, they incur no fault.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
When society is threatened by lawless violence and breakdown of dharmic boundaries, defensive force used to stop oppression is ethically permitted—even for all varṇas—because the aim is protection and restoration of order, not aggression.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on rājadharma, Bhīṣma advises Yudhiṣṭhira about exceptional circumstances: if robbers create chaos and social confusion, then armed resistance by the community is not blameworthy.