Srimad Bhagavatam — Navama Skandha, Shloka 15
Paraśurāma, Kārtavīryārjuna, and the Kāmadhenu Offense
with Lunar-line Genealogy to Gādhi and Jamadagni
दृप्तं क्षत्रं भुवो भारमब्रह्मण्यमनीनशत् । रजस्तमोवृतमहन् फल्गुन्यपि कृतेꣷहसि ॥ १५ ॥
dṛptaṁ kṣatraṁ bhuvo bhāram abrahmaṇyam anīnaśat rajas-tamo-vṛtam ahan phalguny api kṛte ’ṁhasi
ラジャスとタマスに覆われて驕り高ぶったクシャトリヤは大地の重荷となり、ブラーフマナの定めた法を顧みず不義に陥った。ゆえにパラシュラーマは世の負担を軽くするため彼らを討った。罪はさほど重くなくとも、世界の益のためにそうしたのである。
The kṣatriyas, or the ruling class, must govern the world in accordance with the rules and regulations enacted by great brāhmaṇas and saintly persons. As soon as the ruling class becomes irresponsible in regard to the religious principles, it becomes a burden on the earth. As stated here, rajas-tamo-vṛtaṁ, bhāram abrahmaṇyam: when the ruling class is influenced by the lower modes of nature, namely ignorance and passion, it becomes a burden to the world and must then be annihilated by superior power. We actually see from modern history that monarchies have been abolished by various revolutions, but unfortunately the monarchies have been abolished to establish the supremacy of third-class and fourth-class men. Although monarchies overpowered by the modes of passion and ignorance have been abolished in the world, the inhabitants of the world are still unhappy, for although the qualities of the former monarchs were degraded by taints of ignorance, these monarchs have been replaced by men of the mercantile and worker classes whose qualities are even more degraded. When the government is actually guided by brāhmaṇas, or God conscious men, then there can be real happiness for the people. Therefore in previous times, when the ruling class was degraded to the modes of passion and ignorance, the brāhmaṇas, headed by such a kṣatriya- spirited brāhmaṇa as Paraśurāma, killed them twenty-one consecutive times.
FAQs
This verse says that when kṣatriya power becomes proud and anti-brāhmaṇical—driven by rajas and tamas—it turns into the earth’s burden and is destroyed by divine arrangement.
Śukadeva highlights the intensity of Paraśurāma’s mission: to remove a widespread, corrupt kṣatriya culture hostile to dharma, even when individual faults seemed small within that larger degeneration.
It warns that leadership and personal power, when dominated by passion and ignorance, becomes harmful; cultivating sattva (clarity, restraint, respect for wisdom) prevents one from becoming a “burden” to family, society, or workplace.