Shloka 266
सैन्यसंनिवेशः (Sainyasaṃniveśaḥ) — Deployment, Omens, and Yuddha-Dharma Conventions
धर्मान् संस्थापयामासुर्युद्धानां भरतर्षभ । भरतश्रेष्ठ! तत्पश्चात् कौरव, पाण्डव तथा सोमकोंने परस्पर मिलकर युद्धके सम्बन्धमें कुछ नियम बनाये। युद्धधर्मकी मर्यादा स्थापित की
Vaiśaṃpāyana uvāca: dharmān saṃsthāpayāmāsur yuddhānāṃ bharatarṣabha.
Vaiśaṃpāyana said: O bull among the Bharatas, they then established the codes of conduct for warfare—setting in place the boundaries of righteous battle so that the coming conflict would be governed by dharma rather than mere rage or expediency.
वैशग्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even in war, dharma must govern conduct: the epic emphasizes that violence is to be bounded by agreed norms (maryādā), so that power is restrained by ethical duty rather than driven by unchecked hatred.
As the armies prepare for Kurukṣetra, the opposing sides—Kauravas, Pāṇḍavas, and their allies such as the Somakas—agree upon and establish rules for how the battle is to be fought, formalizing the framework of yuddha-dharma.