Shloka 13
'युधिष्ठिर! राजर्षियोंका यही परम धर्म है कि युद्धमें अथवा वनमें उनकी शास्त्रोक्त विधिपूर्वक मृत्यु हो ।। पित्रा तु तव राजेन्द्र पाण्डुना पृथिवीक्षिता । शिष्यवृत्तेन राजायं गुरुवत् पर्युपासित:
Vaiśampāyana uvāca: “Yudhiṣṭhira! rājarṣīṇāṃ eṣa eva parama-dharmaḥ yat yuddhe athavā vane teṣāṃ śāstroktavidhi-pūrvakā mṛtyuḥ bhavati. Pitrā tu tava rājendra Pāṇḍunā pṛthivīkṣitā śiṣya-vṛttena rājāyaṃ guru-vat paryupāsitaḥ.”
पित्रा तु तव राजेन्द्र पाण्डुना पृथिवीक्षिता । शिष्यवृत्तेन राजायं गुरुवत् पर्युपासितः ॥
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a royal sage’s highest dharma as accepting a scripturally sanctioned end—either dying in righteous battle or in the forest through the disciplined path of renunciation—emphasizing that even death should align with śāstra and duty.
Vaiśampāyana addresses Yudhiṣṭhira, explaining the ideal code for rājarṣis and then recalls how Yudhiṣṭhira’s father Pāṇḍu served the reigning king with the humility and obedience of a disciple, treating him like a guru.