Shloka 11
Kurukṣetra-anudarśanam — Rāma-hradāḥ and the Question of Kṣatra Continuity (शान्ति पर्व, अध्याय ४८)
क्षत्रबीजं यथा दग्धं रामेण यदुपुड्भव । कथं भूय: समुत्पत्ति: क्षत्रस्यामितविक्रम,अमित पराक्रमी यदुनाथ! जब परशुरामजीने क्षत्रियोंका बीजतक दग्ध कर दिया, तब फिर क्षत्रिय-जातिकी उत्पत्ति कैसे हुई?
yudhiṣṭhira uvāca |
kṣatrabījaṃ yathā dagdhaṃ rāmeṇa yadupūḍbhava |
kathaṃ bhūyaḥ samutpattiḥ kṣatrasyāmitavikrama ||
Yudhiṣṭhira disse: “Ó descendente dos Yadus, de proeza imensurável! Se Paraśurāma queimou até mesmo a ‘semente’ dos kṣatriyas, como pôde a ordem dos kṣatriyas surgir novamente depois?”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a dharmic-historical problem: even when violence seems total (“the seed of the Kṣatriyas” destroyed), social order and lineages can re-emerge. It invites reflection on the limits of exterminatory violence, the resilience of varṇa/lineage structures, and how dharma is restored after catastrophe.
In Śānti Parva, Yudhiṣṭhira questions a Yādava interlocutor about the famous tradition that Paraśurāma annihilated the Kṣatriyas. He asks how, if their very ‘seed’ was burned, Kṣatriyas later appeared again—seeking a coherent account of lineage continuity and the reconstitution of kingship.