Shloka 18

उद्योगपर्व — अध्याय ८१: कृष्णस्य दूतप्रयाणम्

Udyoga Parva, Chapter 81: Krishna Sets Out as Envoy

Devanagari script

यथावध्ये वध्यमाने भवेद्‌ दोषो जनार्दन | स वध्यस्यावधे दृष्ट इति धर्मविदो विदु:

Transliteration

yathāvadhe vadhyamāne bhaved doṣo janārdana | sa vadhyasyāvadhe dṛṣṭa iti dharmavido viduḥ ||

Translation

ヴァイシャンパーヤナは言った。「ジャナールダナよ、もし討つべき者を討つことに何らかの過失が生じるというなら、ダルマを知る者たちは、その過失こそ討ってはならぬ者を討つことにあると理解している。真に処罰されるべき者を処断する場合、咎が付くとは見なされない。」

Word by Word

• यथा: just as / as
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: यथा

• अवध्ये: in/with regard to one who should not be slain
• अवध्ये: Adhikarana
• Type: Adjective
• Root: अवध्य
• Form: Masculine/Neuter, Locative, Singular

• वध्यमाने: when (he) is being slain
• वध्यमाने: Adhikarana
• Type: Adjective
• Root: वध्यमान
• Form: Masculine/Neuter, Locative, Singular

• भवेत्: would be / might arise
• Type: Verb
• Root: भू
• Form: Optative (Vidhi-lin), 3rd, Singular, Parasmaipada

• दोषः: fault, sin
• दोषः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: दोष
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• जनार्दन: O Janārdana (Kṛṣṇa)
• Type: Noun
• Root: जनार्दन
• Form: Masculine, Vocative, Singular

• सः: that / he
• सः: Karta
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: तद्
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• वध्यस्य: of one who is to be slain
• Type: Adjective
• Root: वध्य
• Form: Masculine/Neuter, Genitive, Singular

• अवधे: in the non-slaying / in not killing
• अवधे: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: अवध
• Form: Masculine, Locative, Singular

• दृष्टः: is seen / is held to be
• Type: Adjective
• Root: दृष्ट
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• इति: thus
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: इति

• धर्मविदः: knowers of dharma
• धर्मविदः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: धर्मविद्
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• विदुः: know / hold (as doctrine)
• Type: Verb
• Root: विद्
• Form: Perfect (Liṭ), 3rd, Plural, Parasmaipada

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśampāyana
• Janārdana (Kṛṣṇa)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Moral blame (doṣa) is not attributed to the act of killing when it is the rightful execution of one who is truly punishable (vadhya); the blame belongs to killing someone who is not punishable. The verse frames violence within a dharma-based distinction between just punishment and wrongful killing.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana states a dharma principle while addressing Janārdana (Kṛṣṇa): in deliberations surrounding conflict and retribution, the tradition’s dharma-knowers hold that fault is seen in slaying the undeserving, not in the rightful slaying of the deserving.