Shloka 91
Daṇḍanīti and the King as the Cause of Yuga-Order (दण्डनीतिः राजधर्मश्च युगकारणत्वम्)
दण्डनीतिं परित्यज्य यदा कार्त्स्न्येन भूमिप: । प्रजा: क्लिश्षात्ययोगेन प्रवर्तेत तदा कलि:
daṇḍanītiṁ parityajya yadā kārtsnyena bhūmipaḥ | prajāḥ kliśyāty-ayogena pravarteta tadā kaliḥ ||
ビーシュマは言った。「王が刑政の学（ダンダニーティ、daṇḍanīti）をことごとく捨て、不適切で邪なる手段によって民を苦しめ始めるとき、カリ（Kali-yuga）が起こる—それは道徳と社会の衰亡の始まりである。この偈は、正しき統治を倫理の務めとして示す。規律ある政道を怠れば、それが乱れと苦しみを国に招き入れる門となる。」
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
A ruler’s dharma includes maintaining daṇḍanīti—just, disciplined governance. When a king abandons it and harms people through unfit policies, societal decay (Kali) begins.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction on rājadharma, Bhīṣma warns Yudhiṣṭhira that misrule—especially the total neglect of lawful governance—creates the conditions identified as the rise of Kali.