Mahabharata — Shanti Parva, Shloka 17
Adhyāya 55 — Yudhiṣṭhira’s Hesitation and Bhīṣma’s Authorization of Inquiry
Rājadharma Prelude
यो लोभान्न समीक्षेत धर्मसेतुं सनातनम् | निहन्ति यस्तं समरे क्षत्रियो वै स धर्मवित्
bhīṣma uvāca | yo lobhān na samīkṣeta dharmasetuṃ sanātanam | nihanti yas taṃ samare kṣatriyo vai sa dharmavit ||
ਜੋ ਲੋਭ ਦੇ ਵੱਸ ਹੋ ਕੇ ਸਨਾਤਨ ਧਰਮ-ਸੇਤੂ (ਧਰਮ-ਮਰਯਾਦਾ) ਵੱਲ ਨਜ਼ਰ ਵੀ ਨਹੀਂ ਕਰਦਾ, ਉਸ ਨੂੰ ਜੋ ਖ਼ਤਰੀਯ ਰਣਭੂਮੀ ਵਿੱਚ ਮਾਰ ਡਾਹੁੰਦਾ ਹੈ, ਉਹ ਖ਼ਤਰੀਯ ਨਿਸ਼ਚੇ ਹੀ ਧਰਮ-ਜਾਣੂ ਹੈ।
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
A warrior’s violence is not automatically unrighteous; when it is exercised as kshatriya-duty against a person who, driven by greed, disregards the eternal moral boundary (dharma-setu), that act can be dharmic. The verse frames dharma as a stable, protective order, and condemns greed as a force that blinds one to it.
Bhishma is instructing on dharma in the Shanti Parva. Here he describes a type of wrongdoer—one who ignores dharma’s enduring limits due to greed—and states that a Kshatriya who kills such a person in battle is to be considered a knower of dharma, emphasizing the moral rationale for righteous warfare.