Shloka 32
Prāyaścitta and Contextual Non-Culpability (प्रायश्चित्त-निमित्त-अदोषवाद)
चतुष्पात् सकलो धर्मों ब्राह्मणस्य विधीयते । पादावकृष्टो राजन्ये तथा धर्मो विधीयते
catuṣpāt sakalo dharmo brāhmaṇasya vidhīyate | pādāvakṛṣṭo rājanye tathā dharmo vidhīyate ||
Vyāsa nói: “Đối với Bà-la-môn, pháp (dharma) được quy định trọn vẹn như ‘bốn chân’ đầy đủ. Còn đối với Sát-đế-lợi, pháp cũng được quy định như vậy, nhưng bị giảm đi một ‘chân’—kém trọn vẹn hơn pháp của Bà-la-môn.”
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents a graded model of varṇa-based duties: the Brāhmaṇa is enjoined to uphold dharma in its full, ‘four-part’ completeness, while the Kṣatriya’s dharma is described as comparatively reduced by one part—suggesting differing expectations and emphases in ethical-religious obligations across social roles.
In Śānti Parva’s instructional discourse on governance and righteousness after the war, Vyāsa states a normative principle about how dharma is prescribed for different varṇas, contrasting the completeness of Brāhmaṇa-dharma with the comparatively diminished form assigned to the royal/warrior class.