Shloka 11
Ārjava, Satya, and the Virocana–Sudhanvan Exemplum
Udyoga-parva 35
अतिवादं न प्रवदेन्न वादयेद् यो5नाहतः प्रतिहन्यान्न घातयेत् । हन्तुं च यो नेच्छति पापकं वै तस्मै देवा: स्पृहयन्त्यागताय
ativādaṁ na pravadet na vādayed yo 'nāhataḥ pratihanyān na ghātayet | hantuṁ ca yo necchati pāpakaṁ vai tasmai devāḥ spṛhayanty āgatāya ||
ハンサは言った。過度の言い争いにも罵りにも耽ってはならず、また他人を争いへと駆り立ててもならない。打たれていないなら打ち返してはならず、他者を打たせてもならない。さらに害を受けても、罪ある者を殺そうとしない人—その自制の清らかさゆえに、神々さえ天界でその到来を待ち望む。
हंस उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches disciplined speech and disciplined force: do not indulge in harsh or excessive talk, do not provoke others into conflict, do not retaliate when unprovoked, and do not escalate violence by having others harm on your behalf. The highest restraint is refusing to kill even an offender, a virtue praised as heaven-worthy.
In Udyoga Parva, amid counsel and moral instruction before the great war, the speaker identified as Haṃsa delivers a didactic maxim. The focus is not battlefield tactics but the ethical ideal of restraint—especially relevant in a parva concerned with diplomacy, provocation, and the looming outbreak of violence.