Shloka 18
Udyoga-parva Adhyāya 126 — Kṛṣṇa’s Indictment of Misrule and the Varuṇa Analogy (कृष्णवाक्यं–धर्मपाशदृष्टान्तः)
कश्न जातु कुले जात: क्षत्रधर्मेण वर्तयन् भयाद् वृत्तिं समीक्ष्यैवं प्रणणेदिह कहिचित्
kaś na jātu kule jātaḥ kṣatradharmeṇa vartayan bhayād vṛttiṁ samīkṣyaivaṁ praṇaṇed iha kaścit
Vaiśampāyana said: “Who, born into a noble lineage and living by the warrior’s code, would ever—out of fear, after calculating his livelihood in this way—submit himself here like some ordinary man?”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse upholds kṣatriya-dharma: one born into a warrior lineage should not let fear dictate conduct, nor abase oneself by calculating mere survival over honor and duty.
Vaiśampāyana comments rhetorically on the impropriety of a kṣatriya’s fearful submission, emphasizing that such behavior contradicts the expected warrior code in the tense pre-war context of the Udyoga Parva.