Shloka 9
Daṇḍa, Ahiṃsā, and Proportional Kingship: The Dyumatsena–Satyavān Dialogue (दण्ड-अहिंसा-विवेकः)
आम्नायवचनं सत्यमित्ययं लोकसंग्रह: । आम्नायेभ्य: पुनर्वेदा: प्रसृता: सर्वतोमुखा:,वेदोंका वचन सत्य है, यह कथन लोकरंजनमात्र है। वेदोंसे ही सर्वतोमुखी स्मृतियोंका प्रचार और प्रसार हुआ है
āmnāya-vacanaṁ satyam ity ayaṁ loka-saṅgrahaḥ | āmnāyebhyaḥ punaḥ vedāḥ prasṛtāḥ sarvato-mukhāḥ ||
Юдхиштхира сказал: «“Слово священного предания (амная) истинно” — люди повторяют это как изречение ради сохранения мирского порядка. И всё же именно из самого передаваемого предания Веды разошлись во все стороны, приняв множество форм и голосов.»
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse reflects on how claims of truth and authority are grounded in āmnāya (received tradition): society treats ‘traditional utterance is true’ as a stabilizing principle, and the Vedas themselves are presented as having been propagated through that very stream of transmission, branching into manifold forms.
In Śānti Parva’s dharma-discourse, Yudhiṣṭhira raises a reflective point about the basis of scriptural authority—how people appeal to tradition for social cohesion, and how Vedic knowledge is understood as spreading through established lines of transmission.