Shloka 58

Devanagari script

यः वलश्चिन्न्याय्य आचार: सर्व शास्त्रमिति श्रुति: । यदन्याय्यमशास्त्र तदित्येषा श्रूयते श्रुति:,जो कोई भी न्यायोचित आचार है, वह सब शास्त्र है, ऐसा श्रुतिका कथन है। जो अन्यायपूर्ण बर्ताव है, वह अशास्त्रीय है, ऐसी श्रुति भी सुनी जाती है

Transliteration

yaḥ śāstraś cin nyāyya ācāraḥ sarvaṃ śāstram iti śrutiḥ | yad anyāyyam aśāstraṃ tad ity eṣā śrūyate śrutiḥ ||

Translation

カピラは言った。「シュルティ（śruti）は宣言する。正しく相応しい行いはすべて『シャーストラ』（śāstra、権威ある教え）である。しかも不正なる振る舞いは『アシャーストラ』（aśāstra、非正統）である、ともまたシュルティに聞く。」

Word by Word

यःwho/that which

बलःstrength/force

चand

इहhere/in this world

न्याय्यःproper/just/legitimate

आचारःconduct/practice

सर्वम्all/entire

शास्त्रम्scripture/authoritative teaching

इतिthus/so (quotative)

श्रुतिःVedic revelation/tradition

यत्that which

अन्याय्यम्unjust/improper

अशास्त्रम्non-scriptural/against scripture

तत्that

इतिthus (quotative)

एषाthis

श्रूयतेis heard/is said

श्रुतिःVedic revelation/tradition

Speaker

कपिल उवाच

Characters & Entities

Kapila

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Right conduct itself is the true measure of ‘śāstra’: whatever is just and ethically sound counts as authoritative dharma-teaching, while whatever is unjust is to be rejected as non-śāstric.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma, Kapila states a guiding criterion for evaluating practices and claims of authority: justice and propriety validate a rule as śāstra, whereas injustice marks it as aśāstra.