Shloka 97

Daṇḍanīti and the King as the Cause of Yuga-Order (दण्डनीतिः राजधर्मश्च युगकारणत्वम्)

Devanagari script

रसा: सर्वे क्षयं यान्ति यदा नेच्छति भूमिप: । प्रजा: संरक्षितुं सम्यग्‌ दण्डनीतिसमाहित:

Transliteration

rasāḥ sarve kṣayaṃ yānti yadā necchati bhūmipaḥ | prajāḥ saṃrakṣituṃ samyag daṇḍanīti-samāhitaḥ ||

Translation

Bhīṣma nói: Khi một vị vua, tuy đã an lập trong khoa học về hình phạt và trị quốc (daṇḍanīti), nhưng không thật lòng muốn bảo hộ thần dân cho đúng đắn, thì mọi “tinh chất” của đất—phồn thịnh, màu mỡ và các nguồn lực nuôi sống—đều hao mòn, tiêu tán.

Word by Word

• रसाः: juices/essences (sap, fertility)
• रसाः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: रस
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• सर्वे: all
• सर्वे: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: सर्व
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Plural

• क्षयम्: destruction/decay
• क्षयम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: क्षय
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Singular

• यान्ति: go/come to (reach)
• Type: Verb
• Root: या
• Form: Present, Third, Plural, Parasmaipada

• यदा: when
• यदा: Adhikarana
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: यदा

• न: not
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: न

• इच्छति: desires/wishes
• Type: Verb
• Root: इष्
• Form: Present, Third, Singular, Parasmaipada

• भूमिपः: king (lord of the land)
• भूमिपः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: भूमिप
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• प्रजाः: subjects/people
• प्रजाः: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: प्रजा
• Form: Feminine, Accusative, Plural

• संरक्षितुम्: to protect
• Type: Verb
• Root: सम्-रक्ष्
• Form: Tumun (infinitive), Parasmaipada (usage)

• सम्यक्: properly, well
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: सम्यक्

• दण्डनीति-समाहितः: composed/intent, absorbed in the policy of punishment (statecraft)
• दण्डनीति-समाहितः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: दण्डनीतिसमाहित
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma
• bhūmipa (the king)
• prajāḥ (subjects/people)
• bhūmi (earth)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Kingship is justified by protection. Even if a ruler possesses daṇḍanīti (administrative and punitive power), without the sincere will to safeguard subjects, the realm’s prosperity and the earth’s sustaining resources decline—an ethical warning that authority must serve welfare (rakṣaṇa) to uphold dharma.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Shanti Parva’s instruction on rajadharma, Bhishma continues advising Yudhishthira about the duties of a ruler. Here he states a consequence of negligent governance: when a king fails to protect the people, the kingdom’s prosperity withers, symbolized as the ‘rasas’ of the earth perishing.