Shloka 8
Daṇḍa, Ahiṃsā, and Proportional Kingship: The Dyumatsena–Satyavān Dialogue (दण्ड-अहिंसा-विवेकः)
अन्ये कृतयुगे धर्मास्त्रितायां द्वापरे परे । अन्ये कलियुगे धर्मा यथाशक्ति कृता इव
yudhiṣṭhira uvāca |
anye kṛtayuge dharmās tritāyāṃ dvāpare pare |
anye kaliyuge dharmā yathāśakti kṛtā iva ||
युधिष्ठिर उवाच—अन्ये कृतयुगे धर्माः, त्रेतायां द्वापरे चापरे। अन्ये कलियुगे धर्माः, यथाशक्ति कृता इव मुनिभिः॥
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Dharma is presented as yuga-specific: the norms and practices appropriate in one age may differ in another, and sages frame these duties in line with human capacity (yathāśakti), emphasizing practicable righteousness rather than a single rigid standard for all times.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma, Yudhiṣṭhira raises a reflective question/observation: he notes that different yugas have different prescribed dharmas and infers that the sages designed these prescriptions to match the declining or varying abilities of people across ages.