Shloka 4
Daṇḍa, Ahiṃsā, and Proportional Kingship: The Dyumatsena–Satyavān Dialogue (दण्ड-अहिंसा-विवेकः)
अन्यो धर्म: समस्थस्य विषमस्थस्य चापर: । आपदस्तु कथं शक्या: परिपाठेन वेदितुम्,जो मनुष्य अच्छी स्थितिमें है, उसका धर्म दूसरा है और जो संकटमें पड़ा हुआ है, उसका धर्म दूसरा ही है। केवल वेदोंके पाठसे आपद्धर्मका ज्ञान कैसे हो सकता है?
Yudhiṣṭhira uvāca: anyo dharmaḥ samasthasya viṣamasthasya cāparaḥ | āpadastu kathaṃ śakyāḥ paripāṭhena veditum ||
സമസ്ഥിതിയിൽ ഉള്ളവന്റെ ധർമ്മം വേറെയും, വിഷമസ്ഥിതിയിൽ—ആപത്തിൽ—അകപ്പെട്ടവന്റെ ധർമ്മം വേറെയും ആണ്. ആപദ്കാലധർമ്മം വെറും പാരായണത്തിലൂടെ എങ്ങനെ അറിയാൻ കഴിയും?
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Dharma is context-sensitive: the norms for ordinary, stable life (sāmānya-dharma) may differ from the norms appropriate in crisis (āpaddharma). Therefore ethical knowledge cannot come from rote textual recitation alone; it requires discernment about circumstances and purpose.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma, Yudhiṣṭhira raises a problem for the teachers: since duties change between normal conditions and emergencies, how can one reliably learn the rules of conduct for calamity merely through repeated study of scripture? He is pressing for a practical, interpretive explanation of āpaddharma.