Shloka 10
Adharmic Victory as Unstable; Rules of Restraint, Mediation, and Conciliation (अधर्मविजय-अध्रुवत्व तथा क्षमा-नयः)
यस्तु धर्मविलोपेन मर्यादाभेदनेन च
yastu dharmavilopena maryādābhedena ca
Bhīṣma said: “But the one who, by undermining dharma and by breaking established boundaries and norms…”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma frames moral failure as two linked acts: eroding dharma itself and crossing the maryādā (accepted limits of conduct). The verse sets up a warning that ethical collapse begins when norms and righteous order are deliberately violated.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on governance and righteousness. Here he begins a characterization of a wrongdoer—someone who damages dharma and breaches social and moral boundaries—likely leading into consequences or prescriptions in the following lines.