Shloka 9
राजधर्मः—प्रमादवर्जनं, दण्डनीतिः, दुर्बलरक्षणम्
Royal Dharma: Vigilance, Just Punishment, Protection of the Vulnerable
राजैव कर्ता भूतानां राजैव च विनाशक: । धर्मात्मा यः स कर्तास्यादधर्मात्मा विनाशक:,राजा ही प्राणियोंका कर्ता (जीवनदाता) और राजा ही उनका विनाश करनेवाला है। जो धर्मात्मा है, वह प्रजाका जीवनदाता है और जो पापात्मा है, वह उसका विनाश करनेवाला है
rājāiva kartā bhūtānāṃ rājāiva ca vināśakaḥ | dharmātmā yaḥ sa kartā syād adharmātmā vināśakaḥ ||
Utathya said: The king alone is the maker of living beings, and the king alone is also their destroyer. A king devoted to dharma becomes, as it were, the giver and sustainer of his subjects’ lives; but a king devoted to adharma becomes their agent of ruin. Thus kingship is a morally decisive power: the same authority that protects can also devastate, depending on the ruler’s inner alignment with righteousness.
उतथ्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
Royal power is ethically double-edged: the king’s conduct determines whether his rule becomes life-sustaining protection (when grounded in dharma) or destructive oppression (when grounded in adharma).
In the Shanti Parva’s instruction on statecraft and righteousness, the sage Utathya teaches about the moral weight of kingship, emphasizing that a ruler’s inner commitment to dharma directly shapes the welfare or ruin of the people.