Shloka 32

Devanagari script

अरक्षितारं हर्तारें विलोप्तारमनायकम्‌ | तं वै राजकलिं हन्यु: प्रजा: सन्नह निर्धणम्‌,जो प्रजाकी रक्षा नहीं करता, केवल उसके धनको लूटता-खसोटता रहता है, तथा जिसके पास कोई नेतृत्व करनेवाला मन्त्री नहीं है, वह राजा नहीं, कलियुग है। समस्त प्रजाको चाहिये कि ऐसे निर्दयी राजाको बाँधकर मार डाले

Transliteration

arakṣitāraṁ hartāraṁ viloptāram anāyakam | taṁ vai rāja-kaliṁ hanyuḥ prajāḥ sannaha nirdhanam ||

Translation

Bhīṣma bersabda: Pemerintah yang tidak melindungi rakyat, sebaliknya merampas dan menjarah, serta tidak mempunyai bimbingan atau kepimpinan yang wajar—dia bukan raja, melainkan ‘Kali’ dalam rupa raja. Rakyat hendaklah bersenjata, mengikat, dan membunuh penindas yang kejam lagi memiskinkan itu.

Word by Word

• {'arakṣitāram': 'one who does not protect (the subjects)', 'hartāram': 'one who takes away

• a robber/seizer', 'viloptāram': 'a plunderer

• one who despoils', 'anāyakam': 'without a leader/guide

• lacking proper leadership (or counsellorship)', 'rāja-kalim': '‘Kali’ as a king

• a king who embodies the evils of Kali', 'hanyuḥ': 'they should kill/slay', 'prajāḥ': 'the subjects

• the people', 'sannaha': 'having armed/arrayed themselves

• prepared for action', 'nirdhanam': 'impoverishing

• making (the people) without wealth (also: poor)'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma
• prajāḥ (the subjects/people)
• rājā (king)
• Kali (as a principle/personification)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

A king’s primary dharma is protection and just governance. A ruler who exploits rather than protects forfeits legitimacy; Bhishma frames such a tyrant as ‘Kali’ itself, implying that removing him becomes a duty to restore dharma.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Bhishma’s instruction on rajadharma, he describes the marks of a predatory, leaderless ruler—one who plunders the people—and states that the subjects, once organized and armed, may bind and execute such a king as a corrective act against tyranny.