Shloka 16
Kośa-saṃjanana and Subtle Dharma
Treasury Formation and Fine-Grained Ethics
अयुद्धयमानस्य वधो दारामर्ष: कृतघ्नता | ब्रह्मवित्तस्य चादानं नि:शेषकरणं तथा
ayuddhayamānasya vadho dārāmarṣaḥ kṛtaghnatā | brahmavittasya cādānaṃ niḥśeṣakaraṇaṃ tathā ||
जो युद्ध नहीं कर रहा हो, उसका वध करना; परायी स्त्री का अपमान करना; कृतघ्न होना; ब्रह्मवित् (ब्राह्मण) के धन का अपहरण करना; और किसी का सर्वस्व छीन लेना—ये कर्म डाकुओं में भी निन्दित माने गए हैं।
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma lists certain acts—killing a non-combatant, violating another’s wife, ingratitude, seizing a holy/learned person’s wealth, and stripping someone of all possessions—as gravely adharmic, so blameworthy that even criminals condemn them; the teaching is to renounce such conduct as fundamentally unrighteous.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma after the war, Bhīṣma advises Yudhiṣṭhira by enumerating behaviors that must be avoided; here he emphasizes moral limits that apply even in contexts of conflict and power.