Shloka 21
Kāpavya-carita (कापव्यचरित) — Reforming Dasyus through Regulated Rāja-Dharma
यथा मृगस्य विद्धस्य पदमेकं पद नयेत् । लक्षेद् रुधिरलेपेन तथा धर्मपदं नयेत्
yathā mṛgasya viddhasya padam ekaṃ pada nayet | lakṣed rudhiralepena tathā dharmapadaṃ nayet ||
भीष्म उवाच—यथा बाणविद्धस्य मृगस्य पदं पदेनानुनीयते, रुधिरलेपेन पदचिह्नं लक्ष्यते च व्याधं तस्य निवासस्थानं नयति; तथैव धर्मपदं नयेत्। सर्पपदचिह्नवत् धर्मस्य यथार्थस्वरूपं दुरवगाह्यम्; तथापि यो धर्मो वेदविहितः, स्मृत्यनुमोदितः, सद्भिः सेवितः, आत्मनः प्रियश्च हितश्च, स चतुर्विधः पथप्रदर्शकः सन् धर्मस्य यथार्थस्वरूपप्राप्तिं करोति। यः एवंविधं धर्ममुपदिशति स एव धर्मज्ञः।
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Dharma is subtle and difficult to identify, but it can be reliably approached through a fourfold guide: what the Veda enjoins, what the Smṛtis endorse, what good people practice, and what a purified conscience finds wholesome and dear. Teaching and following such dharma is the mark of a true dharma-knower.
In Bhishma’s instruction during the Śānti Parva, he uses a vivid hunting simile: a wounded deer leaves a blood-marked trail that guides the hunter to its location. Likewise, the fourfold criteria function as a ‘trail’ that leads a seeker toward the authentic understanding of dharma, which is otherwise as hard to trace as a serpent’s track.