Shloka 4
Daṇḍa, Ahiṃsā, and Proportional Kingship: The Dyumatsena–Satyavān Dialogue (दण्ड-अहिंसा-विवेकः)
अन्यो धर्म: समस्थस्य विषमस्थस्य चापर: । आपदस्तु कथं शक्या: परिपाठेन वेदितुम्
Yudhiṣṭhira uvāca: anyo dharmaḥ samasthasya viṣamasthasya cāparaḥ | āpadastu kathaṃ śakyāḥ paripāṭhena veditum ||
Yudhiṣṭhira disse: “O dever (dharma) de quem se encontra numa condição estável e normal é uma coisa, e o dever de quem caiu numa condição adversa e desigual é outra. Em tempos de calamidade, como compreender o rumo correto apenas pela recitação mecânica dos Vedas?”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Dharma is context-sensitive: the norms for ordinary, stable life (sāmānya-dharma) may differ from the norms appropriate in crisis (āpaddharma). Therefore ethical knowledge cannot come from rote textual recitation alone; it requires discernment about circumstances and purpose.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma, Yudhiṣṭhira raises a problem for the teachers: since duties change between normal conditions and emergencies, how can one reliably learn the rules of conduct for calamity merely through repeated study of scripture? He is pressing for a practical, interpretive explanation of āpaddharma.