Shloka 27
Vyavahāra-Śuddhi and Rājadharma: Clean Administration, Counsel, and Proportional Punishment
Chapter 86
यथोीक्तवादिन दूत॑ क्षत्रधर्मरतो नृपः । यो हन्यात् पितरस्तस्य भ्रूणहत्यामवाप्तुयु:,क्षत्रियधर्ममें तत्पर रहनेवाला जो राजा अपने स्वामीके कथनानुसार यथार्थ बातें कहनेवाले दूतको मार डालता है, उसके पितरोंको भ्रूणहत्याके फलका भोग करना पड़ता है
yathokta-vādinam dūtaṁ kṣatra-dharma-rato nṛpaḥ | yo hanyāt pitaras tasya bhrūṇa-hatyām avāpnuyuḥ ||
क्षत्रधर्मात तत्पर असलेला राजा देखील जर आपल्या स्वामीच्या सांगण्यानुसार सत्य बोलणाऱ्या दूताचा वध करील, तर त्याच्या पितरांना भ्रूणहत्येचे फळ भोगावे लागते.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
A messenger who truthfully delivers his master’s words is ethically protected; killing such an envoy is a grave adharma whose karmic burden extends beyond the king to his ancestral line, expressed as the severe demerit likened to bhrūṇa-hatyā.
In Bhishma’s instruction on righteous conduct in the Shanti Parva, he lays down a rule of statecraft and morality: even a duty-bound warrior-king must not harm an envoy who speaks as instructed; violating this norm brings catastrophic sin affecting the king’s forefathers.