Shloka 27

दुर्ग-निवेश-राजधर्मः | Fortified Capital and the King’s Residential Polity

Rājadharma

Devanagari script

सर्वार्थत्यागिनं राजा कुले जात॑ बहुश्रुतम्‌ । पूजयेत्‌ तादृशं दृष्टया शयनासनभोजनै:

Transliteration

sarvārthatyāginaṃ rājā kule jātaṃ bahuśrutam | pūjayet tādṛśaṃ dṛṣṭvā śayanāsanabhojanaiḥ ||

Translation

सर्वार्थत्यागिनं राजा कुले जातं बहुश्रुतम् । पूजयेत् तादृशं दृष्ट्वा शयनासनभोजनैः ॥

Word by Word

सर्वार्थत्यागिनम्one who has renounced all aims/possessions

राजाthe king

कुलेin a family

जातम्born

बहुश्रुतम्much-learned, well-versed

पूजयेत्should honor/worship

तादृशम्such a one, of that kind

दृष्ट्याby (his) regard/attention; by looking (favorably)

शयनासनभोजनैःwith bed, seat, and food (i.e., hospitality)

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhīṣma

rājā (king)

sarvārthatyāgin (renunciant)

śayana (bed)

āsana (seat)

bhojana (food)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

A king should actively honor and support a learned renunciant—someone who has given up worldly aims—by offering respectful hospitality (lodging, a seat of honor, and food). This frames royal duty as service to dharma through reverence for spiritual discipline and knowledge.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on rājadharma, Bhīṣma is advising the king (Yudhiṣṭhira in context) on proper conduct toward virtuous people. He specifies concrete acts of honor—bed, seat, and food—when such a renunciant scholar is encountered.