Shloka 14
धर्मोपघातकस्त्वेष समारम्भस्तव प्रभो । नायं धर्मकृतो यज्ञो न हिंसा धर्म उच्यते,'प्रभो! आपने जो यज्ञका समारम्भ किया है, यह धर्मको हानि पहुँचानेवाला है। यह यज्ञ धर्मके अनुकूल नहीं है, क्योंकि हिंसाको कहीं भी धर्म नहीं कहा गया है
dharma-upaghātakas tveṣa samārambhas tava prabho | nāyaṃ dharma-kṛto yajño na hiṃsā dharma ucyate ||
Vaiśaṃpāyana said: “O lord, this undertaking of yours harms dharma. This sacrifice is not performed in accordance with righteousness, for violence is nowhere declared to be dharma.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse asserts an ethical principle: an act that harms dharma cannot be justified as dharma, and violence (hiṃsā) is not to be labeled righteousness—especially when presented under the guise of a sacrificial rite.
The narrator reports a moral objection raised against a sacrificial undertaking: the speaker addresses a ‘lord’ and challenges the legitimacy of the yajña on ethical grounds, arguing that its violent aspect makes it contrary to dharma.