Shloka 96

Kośa-saṃjanana and Subtle Dharma

Treasury Formation and Fine-Grained Ethics

Devanagari script

अप्यपर्वणि भज्येत न नमेतेह कस्यचित्‌ | भारत! ऐसे नरेशको कैसे सुख मिलेगा? अतः राजाको सदा उद्यम ही करना चाहिये

Transliteration

apy aparvaṇi bhajyeta na namet iha kasyacit | bhārata |

Translation

Wika ni Bhīṣma: “Kahit siya’y mabali sa panahong di nararapat, huwag siyang yumuko rito sa kaninuman. O Bhārata, paanong magkakamit ng ligaya ang gayong hari? Kaya ang hari’y dapat laging magsikap at huwag magpakababa sa harap ng iba; sapagkat ang matatag na pagsisikap ang siyang pagkalalaki. Gaya ng tuyong kahoy na nababali nang walang buhol, ngunit hindi yumuyuko; gayon din, maaaring mapuksa ang hari, ngunit hindi siya dapat kailanman magpasakop.”

Word by Word

• {'api': 'even, even if', 'aparvaṇi': 'at a jointless point

• at an improper time/place (lit. ‘not at a node/joint’)', 'bhajyeta': 'may be broken, may snap (optative/passive sense)', 'na': 'not', 'namet': 'should bow, should bend, should submit (optative)', 'iha': 'here, in this world/context', 'kasyacit': 'to anyone, before anyone (gen./dat. sense)', 'bhārata': 'O Bhārata (address to Yudhiṣṭhira, descendant of Bharata)'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• Bhārata (Yudhiṣṭhira)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

A king’s dignity and effectiveness rest on unwavering resolve: he should rely on sustained effort (udyama) and refuse humiliating submission, even at the cost of ruin. The ethic is kṣātra firmness—better to break than to bend.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on rājadharma, Bhīṣma counsels Yudhiṣṭhira on the qualities of kingship, using the image of dry wood that snaps rather than bends to illustrate steadfastness under pressure.