Shiva Purana — Vayaviya Samhita, Shloka 13
भक्ताधिकारि-द्विजधर्म-योगिलक्षणवर्णनम् / Duties of Qualified Devotees and Marks of Yogins
रक्षणं सर्ववर्णानां युद्धे शत्रुवधस्तथा । दुष्टपक्षिमृगाणां च दुष्टानां शातनं नृणाम्
rakṣaṇaṃ sarvavarṇānāṃ yuddhe śatruvadhastathā | duṣṭapakṣimṛgāṇāṃ ca duṣṭānāṃ śātanaṃ nṛṇām
“(Tugasnya ialah) melindungi semua varṇa; dan dalam peperangan, membunuh musuh. Demikian juga, (hendaklah) memusnahkan burung dan binatang buas yang jahat, serta menghukum dan menundukkan manusia yang durjana.”
Suta Goswami
Tattva Level: pashu
Shiva Form: Vīrabhadra
Significance: Frames kṣatriya-protective duty as dharmic preservation (sthiti) that safeguards conditions for worship, temples, and pilgrimage routes.
FAQs
It defines righteous governance as dharma-in-action: protecting all people and restraining adharma, so society can pursue devotion, duty, and liberation under a stable moral order aligned with Shiva as Pati (the supreme Lord).
Saguna Shiva is honored not only through ritual but through dharmic conduct; a ruler who protects and corrects wrongdoing upholds Shiva’s cosmic order, making governance itself a form of service to the Lord symbolized by the Linga.
The verse primarily teaches ethical discipline (dharma) rather than a specific rite; as a Shaiva takeaway, one may reinforce this duty with daily Panchakshara japa ("Om Namaḥ Śivāya") and a vow to protect and act justly.