Shloka 17
उद्योगपर्व — अध्याय ८१: कृष्णस्य दूतप्रयाणम्
Udyoga Parva, Chapter 81: Krishna Sets Out as Envoy
दशाहईनन्दन! अपने धर्मका पालन करनेवाले क्षत्रियको चाहिये कि वह लोभका आश्रय लेनेवाले मनुष्यको भले ही वह क्षत्रिय हो या अक्षत्रिय, अवश्य मार डाले ।।
vaiśampāyana uvāca | daśāhīnandana! svadharmapālana-parāyaṇena kṣatriyeṇa lobhāśrayaṃ kurvāṇaṃ manuṣyaṃ sa kṣatriyo vā akṣatriyo vā niyataṃ hantavyaḥ || anyatra brāhmaṇāt tāta sarvapāpeṣv avasthitāt | guruḥ hi sarvavarṇānāṃ brāhmaṇaḥ prasṛtāgrabhuk ||
Vaiśaṃpāyana disse: “Ó descendente de Daśāha! Um kṣatriya comprometido em sustentar o seu próprio dharma deve certamente matar o homem que se abriga na cobiça—seja ele kṣatriya ou não. Mas esta regra, querido, não se aplica a um brāhmaṇa, ainda que esteja afundado em todo pecado. Pois o brāhmaṇa é o mestre de todas as ordens sociais e o primeiro destinatário das dádivas—o legítimo reclamante inicial do que é oferecido em caridade.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a kṣatriya’s duty as enforcing social and moral order by punishing greed-driven wrongdoing, while simultaneously prescribing a strong restraint: brāhmaṇas are exempt from execution even when morally fallen, because of their sacral status as teachers and primary recipients of gifts.
Vaiśampāyana, in the Udyoga Parva context of counsel and policy before the great war, states a normative rule about royal/warrior justice: who may be killed as part of kṣatriya duty and who is protected by exception, grounding the exception in the traditional authority attributed to brāhmaṇas.