Shloka 57
कर्णनिधनवृत्तान्तनिवेदनम् | Reporting Karṇa’s Fall to Yudhiṣṭhira
यत् स्यादहिंसासंयुक्त स धर्म इति निश्चय: । अहिंसार्थाय भूतानां धर्मप्रवचनं कृतम्
yat syād ahiṃsā-saṃyuktaṃ sa dharma iti niścayaḥ | ahiṃsārthāya bhūtānāṃ dharma-pravacanaṃ kṛtam |
Vāyu-deva berkata: “Inilah kesimpulan yang muktamad: apa jua yang berserta ahimsa (tidak melakukan kekerasan) itulah dharma. Para resi mengajarkan ajaran tertinggi tentang dharma semata-mata agar semua makhluk dilindungi melalui ahimsa.”
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
Dharma is decisively characterized by ahiṃsā: an action or way of life counts as truly dharmic insofar as it is aligned with non-injury. The verse frames ahiṃsā not as optional virtue but as the purpose behind the sages’ instruction of Dharma—protecting living beings.
In Karṇa Parva, amid the war’s moral tensions, Vāyu-deva articulates a principled criterion for Dharma. The statement functions as ethical guidance: even in a context dominated by violence, the tradition’s highest teaching is presented as oriented toward the prevention of harm to beings.