Shloka 24
धन-राजधर्म संवादः
Discourse on Wealth and Royal Duty
यः कृशार्थ: कृशगव: कृशभृत्य: कृशातिथि: । स वै राजन् कृशो नाम न शरीरकृश: कृश:
yaḥ kṛśārthaḥ kṛśagavaḥ kṛśabhṛtyaḥ kṛśātithiḥ | sa vai rājan kṛśo nāma na śarīrakṛśaḥ kṛśaḥ ||
O King, the one who is poor in means—whose wealth is scant, whose cattle are few, whose attendants are few, and whose house receives guests only rarely—he alone truly deserves the name ‘kṛśa’ (wretched/weak). Mere thinness of body does not make a person ‘kṛśa’ in the real sense.
अर्जुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse redefines ‘weakness’ as social and economic diminishment rather than mere bodily thinness: true ‘kṛśatā’ is the loss of means, cattle, dependents, and the flow of guests—markers of prosperity, responsibility, and dharmic household life.
Arjuna addresses a king and clarifies a moral distinction: he argues that the term ‘kṛśa’ should be applied to one whose household and resources have withered (wealth, cattle, servants, hospitality), not simply to someone who is physically lean.