Shloka 18

उद्योगपर्व — अध्याय ८१: कृष्णस्य दूतप्रयाणम्

Udyoga Parva, Chapter 81: Krishna Sets Out as Envoy

Devanagari script

यथावध्ये वध्यमाने भवेद्‌ दोषो जनार्दन | स वध्यस्यावधे दृष्ट इति धर्मविदो विदु:

Transliteration

yathāvadhe vadhyamāne bhaved doṣo janārdana | sa vadhyasyāvadhe dṛṣṭa iti dharmavido viduḥ ||

Translation

Vaiśaṃpāyana dijo: «Oh Janārdana, si se incurre en alguna falta al matar a quien debe ser muerto, los conocedores del dharma entienden que esa misma falta se halla en matar a quien no debe ser muerto. En la ejecución del verdaderamente punible, no se considera que se adhiera culpa alguna.»

Word by Word

यथाjust as / as

अवध्येin/with regard to one who should not be slain

वध्यमानेwhen (he) is being slain

भवेत्would be / might arise

दोषःfault, sin

जनार्दनO Janārdana (Kṛṣṇa)

सःthat / he

वध्यस्यof one who is to be slain

अवधेin the non-slaying / in not killing

दृष्टःis seen / is held to be

इतिthus

धर्मविदःknowers of dharma

विदुःknow / hold (as doctrine)

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

Janārdana (Kṛṣṇa)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Moral blame (doṣa) is not attributed to the act of killing when it is the rightful execution of one who is truly punishable (vadhya); the blame belongs to killing someone who is not punishable. The verse frames violence within a dharma-based distinction between just punishment and wrongful killing.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana states a dharma principle while addressing Janārdana (Kṛṣṇa): in deliberations surrounding conflict and retribution, the tradition’s dharma-knowers hold that fault is seen in slaying the undeserving, not in the rightful slaying of the deserving.