Shloka 49
Dambhodbhava, Nara-Nārāyaṇa, and the Counsel to Abandon Hubris
Udyoga-parva 94
हन्यते प्रेक्षमाणानां हतास्तत्र सभासद: । “जहाँ सभासदोंके देखते-देखते अधर्मके द्वारा धर्मका और मिथ्याके द्वारा सत्यका गला घोंटा जाता हो, वहाँ वे सभासद् नष्ट हुए माने जाते हैं ।।
vaiśampāyana uvāca | hanyate prekṣamāṇānāṁ hatās tatra sabhāsadaḥ |
ویشَمپایَن نے کہا—“جس سبھا میں اراکین کے دیکھتے دیکھتے اَدھرم دھرم کا اور جھوٹ سچ کا گلا گھونٹ دے، وہاں وہی سبھاسد زندہ ہو کر بھی مقتول سمجھے جاتے ہیں—خاموش شرکت سے اخلاقی طور پر ہلاک۔”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Witnessing injustice without resisting it is itself a form of participation. When an assembly allows adharma and falsehood to prevail openly, its members incur moral ruin; their social role obliges them to protect dharma and truth, not merely observe their defeat.
In the Udyoga Parva’s counsel-and-diplomacy setting, the narrator (Vaiśampāyana) articulates a principle about courtly assemblies: if courtiers watch as righteousness is crushed and truth is suppressed, the assembly is already corrupted, and its members are considered destroyed in ethical terms.