Shloka 93
Daṇḍanīti and the King as the Cause of Yuga-Order (दण्डनीतिः राजधर्मश्च युगकारणत्वम्)
शूद्रा भैक्षेण जीवन्ति ब्राह्मणा: परिचर्यया । योगक्षेमस्य नाशक्ष वर्तते वर्णसंकर:
śūdrā bhaikṣeṇa jīvanti brāhmaṇāḥ paricaryayā | yogakṣemasya nāśaś ca vartate varṇasaṅkaraḥ ||
Bhishma dit : «Lorsque les Śūdras sont contraints de vivre de mendicité et les Brāhmaṇas d’un service servile, le bien-être et la sécurité du peuple (yoga-kṣema) sont anéantis ; et l’ordre social s’effondre dans le mélange des varṇa et la confusion (varṇa-saṅkara).»
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
A society prospers when each group can sustain itself through its proper duties; when economic and moral roles invert—begging becomes the lot of the laboring class and servile dependence the lot of the learned—public welfare (yoga-kṣema) collapses and social confusion (varṇasaṅkara) spreads.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and governance. Here he warns that misrule and disorder distort livelihoods and duties, leading to the loss of the people’s security and prosperity and to widespread social breakdown.