Shloka 32
Prāyaścitta and Contextual Non-Culpability (प्रायश्चित्त-निमित्त-अदोषवाद)
चतुष्पात् सकलो धर्मों ब्राह्मणस्य विधीयते । पादावकृष्टो राजन्ये तथा धर्मो विधीयते
catuṣpāt sakalo dharmo brāhmaṇasya vidhīyate | pādāvakṛṣṭo rājanye tathā dharmo vidhīyate ||
व्यास म्हणाले—ब्राह्मणासाठी धर्म चार पादांनी युक्त असा पूर्ण विधिलिखित आहे. परंतु क्षत्रियासाठीही धर्म विधिलिखित आहे; तो मात्र एक पादाने न्यून—ब्राह्मणधर्मापेक्षा कमी पूर्ण—असा सांगितला आहे.
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents a graded model of varṇa-based duties: the Brāhmaṇa is enjoined to uphold dharma in its full, ‘four-part’ completeness, while the Kṣatriya’s dharma is described as comparatively reduced by one part—suggesting differing expectations and emphases in ethical-religious obligations across social roles.
In Śānti Parva’s instructional discourse on governance and righteousness after the war, Vyāsa states a normative principle about how dharma is prescribed for different varṇas, contrasting the completeness of Brāhmaṇa-dharma with the comparatively diminished form assigned to the royal/warrior class.