Shloka 31
Treasury Security, Protection of Informants, and the Kalakavṛkṣīya Exemplum (Śānti Parva 83)
देवतेव हि सर्वार्थान् कुर्याद् राजा प्रसादित: । वैश्वानर इव क्रुद्धः समूलमपि निर्दहेत्,यदि राजाको प्रसन्न कर लिया जाय तो वह देवताकी भाँति सम्पूर्ण मनोरथ सिद्ध कर देता है और यदि कुपित हो जाय तो जलती हुई आगकी भाँति जड़-मूलसहित भस्म कर डालता है
devateva hi sarvārthān kuryād rājā prasāditaḥ | vaiśvānara iva kruddhaḥ samūlam api nirdahyet |
भीष्म उवाच—राजा प्रसादितो देव इव सर्वार्थान् प्रजानां साधयेत्। क्रुद्धस्तु वैश्वानर इव समूलमपि सर्वं निर्दहेत्॥
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
A ruler’s favor and wrath have immense consequences: a pleased king can grant prosperity and fulfill legitimate aims, while an angry king can cause total ruin. Therefore, kings must restrain anger and exercise power with dharma, and subjects should understand the gravity of royal disposition.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on rājadharma, Bhīṣma advises Yudhiṣṭhira using vivid similes: the king, when gracious, resembles a deity who grants boons; when enraged, he resembles Vaiśvānara-fire that consumes everything down to the roots.