Shloka 52
अम्बा–राम–भीष्म संवादः
Amba–Rama–Bhishma Dialogue on Vow and Refuge
ब्रह्महत्या न तस्य स्यादिति धर्मेषु निश्चय: । क्षत्रियाणां स्थितो धर्मे क्षत्रियोडस्मि तपोधन
brahmahatyā na tasya syād iti dharmeṣu niścayaḥ | kṣatriyāṇāṃ sthito dharme kṣatriyo ’smi tapodhana |
ラーマは言った。「法（ダルマ）の諸典籍はこの点を断じている。もしバラモンがクシャトリヤの戦い方を取り、弓矢を携え、怒りをもって前進して戦い、背を向けて逃げぬなら、そのような状態にある彼を見て討ち取る戦士は、バラモン殺し（ブラフマハティヤー）の罪を負わない。苦行に富む修行者よ、私はクシャトリヤであり、クシャトリヤのダルマに立っている。」
राम उवाच
Educational Q&A
Moral culpability is assessed by role and conduct in a given situation: when a Brahmin adopts the kṣatriya’s battlefield posture and engages as a combatant, the act of killing him in that combat is treated under the rules of war rather than as brahmahatyā; the speaker grounds this in dharma-textual precedent and affirms his own kṣatriya duty.
Rāma addresses an ascetic (tapodhana) and justifies a wartime ethical rule: he states that dharma authorities hold that killing a Brahmin who has entered battle like a kṣatriya does not bring the specific sin of Brahmin-slaying, and he frames his stance as consistent with his identity and obligations as a kṣatriya.