Shloka 19
कालनिर्देशः शोकनिवारणं च
Instruction on Kāla and the Removal of Grief
अपेतं ब्राह्मण वृत्ताद् यो हन्यादाततायिनम् | न तेन ब्रह्महा स स्यान्मन्युस्तन्मन्युमृच्छति
apetaṁ brāhmaṇa-vṛttād yo hanyād ātatāyinam | na tena brahmahā sa syān manyus tan-manyum ṛcchati ||
毗耶娑说：“若有人杀死一位已背离婆罗门本分、沦为阿多他因（ātatāyin）——持械来犯、欲行杀戮的凶徒——则并不因此而得婆罗门杀罪（brahmahatyā）。在此情形中，是‘忿怒’对‘忿怒’：侵害者的暴烈意图，须以制止它所必需的力量来回应。”
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse distinguishes status from conduct: when a brāhmaṇa abandons brahminical discipline and becomes an armed aggressor (ātatāyin), stopping him—even by killing—does not count as brahmahatyā. Moral culpability is tied to protecting life and upholding dharma against immediate lethal threat.
In the Śānti Parva’s dharma-discourse, Vyāsa addresses a legal-ethical doubt about violence: whether killing a brāhmaṇa can ever be justified. He answers that in the specific case of an ātatāyin attacking with weapons, the defender is not stained with the sin of killing a brāhmaṇa; the aggressor’s wrath is met by necessary counter-force.