Shloka 97
Daṇḍanīti and the King as the Cause of Yuga-Order (दण्डनीतिः राजधर्मश्च युगकारणत्वम्)
रसा: सर्वे क्षयं यान्ति यदा नेच्छति भूमिप: । प्रजा: संरक्षितुं सम्यग् दण्डनीतिसमाहित:
rasāḥ sarve kṣayaṃ yānti yadā necchati bhūmipaḥ | prajāḥ saṃrakṣituṃ samyag daṇḍanīti-samāhitaḥ ||
Bhīṣma dit : Lorsqu’un roi, bien qu’établi dans la science du châtiment et du gouvernement (daṇḍanīti), ne veut pas sincèrement protéger comme il se doit ses sujets, alors tous les « sucs » vitaux de la terre—prospérité, fertilité et ressources nourricières—se dessèchent et s’évanouissent.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Kingship is justified by protection. Even if a ruler possesses daṇḍanīti (administrative and punitive power), without the sincere will to safeguard subjects, the realm’s prosperity and the earth’s sustaining resources decline—an ethical warning that authority must serve welfare (rakṣaṇa) to uphold dharma.
In the Shanti Parva’s instruction on rajadharma, Bhishma continues advising Yudhishthira about the duties of a ruler. Here he states a consequence of negligent governance: when a king fails to protect the people, the kingdom’s prosperity withers, symbolized as the ‘rasas’ of the earth perishing.