Shloka 29
Vāmadeva’s Rājadharma: Norm-Setting, Counsel, and the Prevention of Rāṣṭra-Vināśa (वामदेव-प्रोक्तं राजधर्मम्)
यो<र्थकामस्य वचन प्रातिकूल्यान्न मृष्यते । शृणोति प्रतिकूलानि सर्वदा विमना इव
yo 'rthakāmasya vacanaṃ prātikūlyān na mṛṣyate | śṛṇoti pratikūlāni sarvadā vimanā iva | yaḥ śiṣṭaiḥ puruṣair ācaraṇe nītam ācāraṃ sadā na sevate tathā parājitān aparājitāṃś ca sva-paramparāgatam ācāraṃ na pālayituṃ dadāti sa kṣatriya-dharmāt patati |
Vāmadeva said: “He who, because it goes against his own mind, cannot endure the counsel of a well-wishing friend seeking his true advantage, yet still listens to words that oppose his own prosperity—such a man remains perpetually as if dejected and unsettled. And he who does not consistently follow the conduct practiced by wise and disciplined men, and who does not allow either the defeated or the undefeated to maintain their inherited, traditional codes of conduct—he falls away from the dharma of a kṣatriya.”
वामदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
A ruler must be able to accept corrective counsel from true well-wishers, consistently follow the exemplary conduct of the cultured, and uphold traditional codes of behavior for all—victors and vanquished alike. Rejecting good advice and undermining established ācāra leads to a fall from kṣatriya-dharma.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction on righteous governance and conduct, Vāmadeva describes traits that disqualify a kṣatriya: intolerance toward a friend’s beneficial advice, mental instability born of self-will, neglect of śiṣṭa-ācāra, and refusal to let people maintain their customary duties and traditions regardless of victory or defeat.