Shloka 26
मया न निहतः: पूर्वमेष युष्मत्प्रियेप्सपा,तुमलोगोंका प्रिय करनेकी इच्छासे ही मैंने इसे पहले नहीं मारा था। यह ब्राह्मणों और यज्ञोंसे द्वेष रखनेवाला तथा धर्मका लोप करनेवाला पापात्मा राक्षस था; इसीलिये इसे मरवा दिया है
mayā na nihataḥ pūrvam eṣa yuṣmat-priya-īpsayā | brāhmaṇānāṁ yajñānāṁ ca dveṣṭā dharma-lopa-karaḥ pāpātmā rākṣasaḥ | tasmād eṣa māritaḥ ||
風神ヴァーユは言った。「以前に彼を討たなかったのは、ただ汝らの喜ぶことをしたかったからだ。だがあの羅刹は罪深き者—婆羅門と祭祀を憎み、ダルマを滅ぼそうと働く者であった。ゆえに今、彼は討たれるように定められたのだ。」
श्रीवायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames violence as ethically permissible only when directed toward the protection of dharma: a being who actively destroys dharma and attacks brāhmaṇas and yajñas is presented as deserving punishment. It also highlights restraint—Vāyu claims he delayed action out of regard for what would please others, implying that power should be exercised with deliberation and moral purpose.
Vāyu-deva explains why a rākṣasa has now been slain. He states that he had not killed the being earlier because he wished to act in a way pleasing to the addressed party, but since the rākṣasa was hostile to brāhmaṇas and sacrificial rites and was undermining dharma, Vāyu ensured (or caused) his death.