Shloka 96

Kośa-saṃjanana and Subtle Dharma

Treasury Formation and Fine-Grained Ethics

Devanagari script

अप्यपर्वणि भज्येत न नमेतेह कस्यचित्‌ | भारत! ऐसे नरेशको कैसे सुख मिलेगा? अतः राजाको सदा उद्यम ही करना चाहिये

Transliteration

apy aparvaṇi bhajyeta na namet iha kasyacit | bhārata |

Translation

Bhīṣma berkata: “Walau dia harus patah pada saat yang tidak wajar, janganlah dia tunduk di sini kepada sesiapa pun. Wahai Bhārata, bagaimana raja seperti itu dapat memperoleh kebahagiaan? Maka raja hendaklah sentiasa berusaha dan jangan sekali-kali merendah diri di hadapan orang lain; kerana keteguhan usaha itulah kejantanan. Seperti kayu kering patah tanpa sempat melentur atau berketul, namun tidak membengkok; demikian juga raja boleh binasa, tetapi jangan pernah menyerah.”

Word by Word

• {'api': 'even, even if', 'aparvaṇi': 'at a jointless point

• at an improper time/place (lit. ‘not at a node/joint’)', 'bhajyeta': 'may be broken, may snap (optative/passive sense)', 'na': 'not', 'namet': 'should bow, should bend, should submit (optative)', 'iha': 'here, in this world/context', 'kasyacit': 'to anyone, before anyone (gen./dat. sense)', 'bhārata': 'O Bhārata (address to Yudhiṣṭhira, descendant of Bharata)'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• Bhārata (Yudhiṣṭhira)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

A king’s dignity and effectiveness rest on unwavering resolve: he should rely on sustained effort (udyama) and refuse humiliating submission, even at the cost of ruin. The ethic is kṣātra firmness—better to break than to bend.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on rājadharma, Bhīṣma counsels Yudhiṣṭhira on the qualities of kingship, using the image of dry wood that snaps rather than bends to illustrate steadfastness under pressure.