Shloka 40
Treasury Security, Protection of Informants, and the Kalakavṛkṣīya Exemplum (Śānti Parva 83)
स्थाण्वश्मकण्टकवतीं सिंहव्याप्रसमाकुलाम् | दुरासदां दुष्प्रसहां गुहां हैमवतीमिव,जैसे हिमालयकी कन्दरामें ढूँठ, पत्थर और काँटे होते हैं, उसके भीतर सिंह और व्याप्रोंका भी निवास होता है तथा इन्हीं सब कारणोंसे उसमें प्रवेश पाना या रहना अत्यन्त कठिन एवं दुःसह हो जाता है, उसी प्रकार दुष्ट अधिकारियोंके कारण इस राज्यमें किसी भले मनुष्यका रहना मुश्किल है
bhīṣma uvāca | sthāṇv-aśma-kaṇṭakavatīṃ siṃha-vyāghra-samākulām | durāsadāṃ duṣprasahāṃ guhāṃ haimavatīm iva |
Bhishma said: “Like a Himalayan cave filled with stumps, rocks, and thorns—haunted besides by lions and tigers—so hard to enter and so hard to endure, even so this kingdom, because of wicked officials, becomes a place where no good person can comfortably remain.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
A kingdom becomes unlivable for the virtuous when administration is dominated by wicked officials; the ruler’s duty is to ensure governance that protects and enables good people rather than driving them away.
In Bhishma’s instruction on statecraft and dharma in the Shanti Parva, he uses a vivid simile—an inhospitable Himalayan cave—to describe how oppressive, corrupt authority makes a realm dangerous and unbearable for decent citizens.