Shloka 54
कृतयुगवर्णनम् तथा राजधर्मोपदेशः
Kṛtayuga Description and Instruction on Royal Dharma
धर्मिष्ठा: परिहीयन्ते पापीयान् वर्धते जन: । धर्मस्य बलहानि: स्यादधर्मश्ष बली तथा,धर्मात्मा पुरुष हानि उठाते दीखेंगे और बड़े-बड़े पापी लौकिक दृष्टिसे उन्नतिशील होंगे। धर्मका बल घटेगा और अधर्म बलवान् होगा
dharmiṣṭhāḥ parihīyante pāpīyān vardhate janaḥ | dharmasya balahāniḥ syād adharmaś ca balī tathā ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “Those who are most devoted to dharma come to be diminished and set aside, while people of greater sinfulness prosper and increase. The strength of dharma declines, and adharma, likewise, becomes powerful.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse warns of a moral inversion: when society neglects the righteous and rewards the sinful, dharma loses its effective power and adharma becomes dominant—an ethical diagnosis of social decay.
Vaiśampāyana, as narrator, describes a condition of the world where the dhārmic are pushed aside and the wicked rise—setting a reflective, cautionary tone about the consequences of collective moral failure.