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
Dijo Vaiśampāyana: «¿Quién, nacido en un linaje noble y viviendo según el deber del kṣatriya, llegaría alguna vez—por miedo, tras calcular así su sustento— a someterse aquí como un hombre cualquiera?»
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.