Shloka 9

Kāpavya-carita (कापव्यचरित) — Reforming Dasyus through Regulated Rāja-Dharma

Devanagari script

ऋषत्विक्‌पुरोहिताचार्यान्‌ सत्कृतानभिसत्कृतान्‌ । न ब्राह्मणान्‌ घातयीत दोषान्‌ प्राप्रोति घातयन्‌

Transliteration

ṛṣatvik-purohitācāryān satkṛtān abhisatkṛtān | na brāhmaṇān ghātayīta doṣān prāpnoti ghātayan ||

Translation

毗湿摩说道：“不可伤害婆罗门——无论是行祭之祭官（ṛtvij）、家祭之司祭（purohita）、或为师者（ācārya），无论受敬与否。伤害婆罗门者必得罪业。纵在极端困厄之时，国王亦不当以没收其财而扰害他们；若以夺财使其受苦，便与罪过同分。”

Word by Word

• {'ṛṣatvik/ṛtvij': 'sacrificial officiant

• priest who performs rites', 'purohita': 'family/royal chaplain

• household priest', 'ācārya': 'teacher

• preceptor', 'satkṛta': 'honored

• treated with respect', 'abhisatkṛta': 'not honored / insufficiently honored (treated without due respect)', 'brāhmaṇa': 'a Brahmin

• here, a protected religious person', 'ghātayīta (√han, causative)': 'should cause harm/kill

• should injure or oppress', 'doṣa': 'fault

• sin', 'prāpnoti': 'attains

• becomes subject to', 'ghātayan': 'harming

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• brāhmaṇāḥ (Brahmins)
• ṛtvij (ṛṣatvik)
• purohita
• ācārya
• rājā (king, implied by the ethical injunction)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Bhīṣma teaches that harming Brahmins—especially priests and teachers—creates moral fault (doṣa). Even under crisis, a ruler should not oppress them or seize their wealth; governance must remain within dharma, and coercion against such protected persons is condemned.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Śānti Parva’s instruction on righteous rule, Bhīṣma lays down a specific prohibition for kings: do not injure or harass Brahmins (whether honored or not), and do not cause them suffering through confiscation or force, because such acts make the ruler culpable.