Shloka 25

Devanagari script

बाहां जन॑ भेदयित्वा भोक्तव्यो मध्यम: सुखम्‌ । एवं नास्य प्रकुप्यन्ति जना: सुखितदु:खिता:,जंगली लुटेरोंको बाह्मजन कहते हैं, उनमें भेद डालकर राजा मध्यमवर्गके ग्रामीण मनुष्योंका सुखपूर्वक उपभोग करे--उनसे राष्ट्रके हितके लिये धन ले, ऐसा करनेसे सुखी और दु:खी दोनों प्रकारके मनुष्य उसपर क्रोध नहीं करते

Transliteration

bāhāṃ janaṃ bhedayitvā bhoktavyo madhyamaḥ sukham | evaṃ nāsya prakupyanti janāḥ sukhita-duḥkhitāḥ ||

Translation

Kelompok perampok liar disebut ‘bāhā’; dengan menimbulkan perpecahan di antara mereka, hendaknya raja menarik pemasukan dari rakyat desa kelas menengah secara terukur demi kesejahteraan negeri—tanpa menindas. Dengan kebijakan demikian, baik yang berkecukupan maupun yang menderita tidak akan murka kepadanya.

Word by Word

• {'bāhāḥ (bāhān janaḥ)': 'a term used for wild/outlaw-like people

• predatory forest-dwellers or bandit groups (as glossed in the Hindi note: ‘jangalī luṭere’)', 'janaṃ': 'people, populace', 'bhedayitvā': 'having caused division

• by splitting into factions (political strategy to neutralize threats)', 'bhoktavyaḥ': 'should be ‘enjoyed/used’

• in royal-policy context: should be drawn upon/collected from (as revenue or service)', 'madhyamaḥ': 'the middle (class/section)

• moderate group', 'sukham': 'comfortably

• with ease (i.e., without oppressive exaction)', 'evaṃ': 'thus

• in this way', 'na': 'not', 'asya': 'of him (the king)', 'prakupyanti': 'become angry

• flare up in wrath', 'sukhita-duḥkhitāḥ': 'both the happy/prosperous and the unhappy/distressed'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma
• the king (rājā)
• bāhāḥ (outlaw/bandit groups)
• madhyamaḥ janaḥ (middle rural populace)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

A king should protect the realm by neutralizing predatory groups through strategic division, and he should collect resources from the ordinary middle rural populace in a measured, non-oppressive way for the public good—so that neither the prosperous nor the distressed turn against him.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Bhishma’s instruction on rāja-dharma in the Śānti Parva, he advises Yudhiṣṭhira on practical governance: handle dangerous outlaw elements by breaking their unity, and levy revenue from villagers moderately for the benefit of the state, thereby maintaining broad public consent.