Shloka 27
राजधर्मप्रश्नः — Yudhiṣṭhira’s Inquiry into Rājadharma (Śānti-parva 56)
एवं चैव नरव्यात्र लोकत्रयविघातका: । निग्राह्मा एव सततं बाहुभ्यां ये स्युरीदूशा:
evaṃ caiva naravyāghra lokatraya-vighātakāḥ | nigrahyaiva satataṃ bāhubhyāṃ ye syur īdṛśāḥ puruṣasiṃha ||
हे नरव्याघ्र! तसेच, जर एखादा ब्राह्मणही तीन लोकांचा विनाश करण्यास उद्यत झाला, तर अशा स्वभावाच्या मनुष्याला बाहुबलाने दडपून सदैव नियंत्रणात ठेवले पाहिजे.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Status or caste does not exempt one from restraint when one becomes a threat to universal welfare; the ruler’s duty is protection of the world-order, even if that requires forceful subjugation of a would-be destroyer.
In Bhīṣma’s instruction on rājadharma in the Śānti Parva, he addresses the listener as ‘naravyāghra/puruṣasiṃha’ and states that even a brāhmaṇa, if bent on catastrophic harm, should be overpowered and kept under control for the sake of the three worlds.