Shloka 96
Daṇḍanīti and the King as the Cause of Yuga-Order (दण्डनीतिः राजधर्मश्च युगकारणत्वम्)
विधवाश्व भवन्त्यत्र नृशंसा जायते प्रजा । क्वचिद् वर्षति पर्जन्य: क्वचित् सस्य॑ प्ररोहति,इस युगमें स्त्रियाँ प्रायः विधवा होती हैं, प्रजा क्रूर हो जाती है, बादल कहीं-कहीं पानी बरसाते हैं और कहीं-कहीं ही धान उत्पन्न होता है
vidhavāśva bhavanty atra nṛśaṃsā jāyate prajā | kvacid varṣati parjanyaḥ kvacit sasyaṃ prarohati ||
भीष्म उवाच—विधवाश्च भवन्त्यत्र स्त्रियो बह्व्यः, नृशंसा जायते प्रजा। क्वचिद् वर्षति पर्जन्यः, क्वचित् सस्यं प्ररोहति।
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse links moral decline with social suffering and ecological imbalance: when dharma weakens, society becomes harsh (nṛśaṃsa), families are destabilized (widowhood), and even nature appears irregular (uneven rains and crops).
In Shanti Parva, Bhishma instructs Yudhishthira on dharma and the conditions of ages; here he describes distressing signs of a degenerate time—social cruelty and disrupted prosperity—using widowhood and erratic rainfall/crop growth as markers.