Shloka 21
Udyoga-parva Adhyāya 28: Dharmādharmalakṣaṇa in Āpad
Crisis-Discernment of Right and Wrong
उताहो त्वं मन्यसे शाम्यमेव राज्ञां युद्धे वर्तते धर्मतन्त्रम् । अयुद्धे वा वर्तते धर्मतन्त्रं तथैव ते वाचमिमां शृणोमि
utāho tvaṃ manyase śāmyam eva rājñāṃ yuddhe vartate dharmatantram | ayuddhe vā vartate dharmatantreṃ tathaiva te vācam imāṃ śṛṇomi
Vāyu said: “Or do you suppose that the ordered fabric of dharma for kings operates only in war? Or that the same rule of dharma applies even in refusing to fight? I hear you speak as though it were so.”
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse challenges a simplistic view that a king’s dharma is either only war or only peace. It presses the listener to recognize that rajadharma is a structured code whose application must be judged by context, not by blanket pacifism or blanket militarism.
Vāyu addresses someone whose words imply that dharma for rulers is fulfilled by peace or by avoiding battle. He questions that assumption, suggesting that the ethical framework for kings must be examined carefully with respect to both fighting and not fighting.