Shloka 87
Daṇḍanīti and the King as the Cause of Yuga-Order (दण्डनीतिः राजधर्मश्च युगकारणत्वम्)
दण्डनीत्यां यदा राजा त्रीनंशाननुवर्तते । चतुर्थमंशमुत्सूज्य तदा त्रेता प्रवर्तते
daṇḍanītyāṁ yadā rājā trīn aṁśān anuvartate | caturtham aṁśam utsṛjya tadā tretā pravartate ||
ビーシュマは言った。「王が刑政（ダンダニーティ、daṇḍanīti）を執り行うにあたり、三つの分のみを守って第四の分を退けるとき、トレーター・ユガ（Tretā-yuga）が動き始める。その状態では、不吉の第四分が功徳の三分の後を追い、地上の食は耕し種を播くという常の営みによって生じ、薬草もまた同じ自然の道理に従って生い立つ。」
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma links the moral quality of governance (daṇḍanīti) with cosmic-social conditions: when a ruler’s administration embodies only three parts of righteousness and relinquishes the fourth, society shifts from the ideal Kṛta age toward Tretā, where a measurable portion of inauspiciousness accompanies merit.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on royal duty and social order, Bhīṣma explains to the listener how different yugas manifest. Here he describes the onset of Tretā-yuga in terms of the king’s practice of daṇḍanīti and the resulting mixed presence of merit and inauspiciousness, along with ordinary agricultural production.