Shloka 18

Devanagari script

धनात्‌ स्रवति धर्मो हि धारणाद्‌ वेति निश्चय: । अकार्याणां मनुष्येन्द्र स सीमान्तकर: स्मृत:,नरेन्द्र! धनसे धर्मकी उत्पत्ति होती है। सबको धारण करनेके कारण वह निश्चितरूपसे धर्म कहा गया है। वह धर्म अकर्तव्य (पाप) की सीमाका अन्त करनेवाला माना गया है

Transliteration

dhanāt sravati dharmo hi dhāraṇād veti niścayaḥ | akāryāṇāṁ manuṣyendra sa sīmāntakaraḥ smṛtaḥ ||

Translation

उतथ्य म्हणाला—नरेन्द्रा! निश्चयच धनातून धर्म प्रवाहित होतो; आणि जो सर्वांना धारण करतो तोच ‘धर्म’ म्हणून ओळखला जातो. मनुष्येन्द्रा! तोच धर्म अकार्य (पाप, निषिद्ध कर्म) यांची सीमा घालून त्यांचा अंत करणारा मानला आहे.

Word by Word

धनात्from wealth

स्रवतिflows/arises

धर्मःdharma, righteousness

हिindeed/for

धारणात्from sustaining/supporting

वाor

इतिthus (quotative)

निश्चयःcertainty/settled conclusion

अकार्याणाम्of forbidden acts/wrong deeds

मनुष्येन्द्रO lord of men

सःhe/that (dharma)

सीमान्तकरःboundary-maker/one who sets limits

स्मृतःis considered/remembered

नरेन्द्रO king

Speaker

उतथ्य उवाच

Characters & Entities

Utathya

manuṣyendra (addressed king)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Dharma is presented as something that requires material means to be expressed in action (charity, protection, sacrifice, governance), and as the sustaining principle that sets moral boundaries—limiting and ending forbidden conduct.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Shanti Parva’s instruction on righteous living and kingship, the sage Utathya addresses a king (‘best of men’) and explains how wealth, when rightly used, becomes a vehicle for dharma, and how dharma functions to restrain wrongdoing by defining clear limits.