Shloka 17
Adhyāya 55 — Yudhiṣṭhira’s Hesitation and Bhīṣma’s Authorization of Inquiry
Rājadharma Prelude
यो लोभान्न समीक्षेत धर्मसेतुं सनातनम् | निहन्ति यस्तं समरे क्षत्रियो वै स धर्मवित्
bhīṣma uvāca | yo lobhān na samīkṣeta dharmasetuṃ sanātanam | nihanti yas taṃ samare kṣatriyo vai sa dharmavit ||
Bhīṣma nói: Kẻ vì lòng tham mà chẳng buồn ngoảnh nhìn đến cây cầu vĩnh cửu của Dharma—kẻ ấy, nếu bị một kṣatriya đánh gục nơi chiến địa, thì kṣatriya ấy quả thật được xem là người hiểu biết Dharma.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
A warrior’s violence is not automatically unrighteous; when it is exercised as kshatriya-duty against a person who, driven by greed, disregards the eternal moral boundary (dharma-setu), that act can be dharmic. The verse frames dharma as a stable, protective order, and condemns greed as a force that blinds one to it.
Bhishma is instructing on dharma in the Shanti Parva. Here he describes a type of wrongdoer—one who ignores dharma’s enduring limits due to greed—and states that a Kshatriya who kills such a person in battle is to be considered a knower of dharma, emphasizing the moral rationale for righteous warfare.