Shloka 18

Udyoga-parva Adhyāya 126 — Kṛṣṇa’s Indictment of Misrule and the Varuṇa Analogy (कृष्णवाक्यं–धर्मपाशदृष्टान्तः)

Devanagari script

कश्न जातु कुले जात: क्षत्रधर्मेण वर्तयन्‌ भयाद्‌ वृत्तिं समीक्ष्यैवं प्रणणेदिह कहिचित्‌

Transliteration

kaś na jātu kule jātaḥ kṣatradharmeṇa vartayan bhayād vṛttiṁ samīkṣyaivaṁ praṇaṇed iha kaścit

Translation

ヴァイシャンパーヤナは言った。「高貴な家に生まれ、クシャトリヤの法に従って生きる者で、恐れのあまり—このように生計を勘定した末に—ここで凡人のように身を屈して服従する者がいようか。」

Word by Word

कश्चित्someone, any person

नnot

जातुever, at any time

कुलेin a family/lineage

जातःborn

क्षत्रधर्मेणby/according to the Kshatriya duty

वर्तयन्conducting himself, behaving

भयात्from fear, out of fear

वृत्तिम्livelihood, mode of living

समीक्ष्यhaving considered, having examined

एवम्thus, in this way

प्रणणेत्should bow down, should submit

इहhere, in this matter/world

कश्चित्anyone (at all)

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse upholds kṣatriya-dharma: one born into a warrior lineage should not let fear dictate conduct, nor abase oneself by calculating mere survival over honor and duty.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana comments rhetorically on the impropriety of a kṣatriya’s fearful submission, emphasizing that such behavior contradicts the expected warrior code in the tense pre-war context of the Udyoga Parva.