Shloka 3
Āśrama-dharma: Duties of the Four Life-Stages (आश्रमधर्मः)
केन वै वर्धते राष्ट्र राजा केन विवर्धते । केन पौराश्च भृत्याश्न वर्धन्ते भरतर्षभ
Vaiśampāyana uvāca: kena vai vardhate rāṣṭraṁ rājā kena vivardhate | kena paurāś ca bhṛtyāś ca vardhante bharatarṣabha ||
राष्ट्र की वृद्धि किस उपाय से होती है? राजा का अभ्युदय किस साधन से होता है? और भरतश्रेष्ठ! नगरवासी तथा जिनका भरण-पोषण करना चाहिए ऐसे सेवक किस प्रकार उन्नति करते हैं?
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a central Rajadharma inquiry: the prosperity of the realm, the ruler, and the people is not accidental but depends on specific causes—right governance, just policy, and proper maintenance of dependents—inviting a dharmic analysis of what makes a state flourish.
In the Shanti Parva’s instruction on kingship and peace, Vaiśampāyana poses (or reports) a set of guiding questions to a Bharata leader about the means by which the kingdom, the king, and the citizens/retainers increase in well-being, setting up the ensuing counsel on statecraft and duty.