Shloka 44
कुन्तीनन्दन! जैसे काठका हाथी, चमड़ेका हिरन, हिजड़ा मनुष्य, ऊसर खेत तथा वर्षा न करनेवाला बादल--ये सब के सब व्यर्थ हैं, उसी प्रकार अपढ़ ब्राह्मण तथा रक्षा न करनेवाला राजा भी सर्वथा निरर्थक हैं ।। नित्यं यस्तु सतो रक्षेदसतश्न निवर्तयेत् । स एव राजा कर्तव्यस्तेन सर्वमिदं धृतम्
kuntīnandana! yathā kāṣṭhako hastī, carmakṛto hariṇaḥ, ṣaṇḍho manuṣyaḥ, ūṣaraṃ kṣetram tathā vṛṣṭim akurvan meghaḥ—ete sarve vyarthāḥ; tathāvidha eva apāṭhito brāhmaṇaḥ arakṣitā ca rājā sarvathā nirarthakau. nityaṃ yas tu sataḥ rakṣed asataś ca nivartayet | sa eva rājā kartavyas tena sarvam idaṃ dhṛtam ||
Bhīṣma says: “O son of Kunti, just as a wooden elephant, a deer made of leather, a eunuch who cannot fulfill the ordinary aims of household life, a barren saline field, and a cloud that does not rain are all futile—so too an unlearned Brahmin and a king who does not protect are wholly without purpose. The one who constantly safeguards the good and restrains the wicked—he alone should be made king; by him this entire order of the world is upheld.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
A ruler’s legitimacy is defined by function: constant protection of the righteous and active restraint of wrongdoing. Without protection, kingship becomes purposeless; likewise, without learning, a Brahmin fails in the role of preserving and teaching dharma.
In the Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on rājadharma (the duties of a king). Here he uses vivid analogies of ‘useless’ things to stress that social offices (Brahminhood and kingship) are meaningful only when their defining duties—learning/teaching and protection/governance—are actually performed.