Shloka 43
Varṇa-dharma and Rājadharma: Yudhiṣṭhira’s Inquiry and Bhīṣma’s Normative Outline (वर्णधर्म-राजधर्म-प्रश्नोत्तरम्)
स्पर्शे चाभ्यवहार्ये चाप्युपांशुविविध: स्मृत: । अरिरमित्र उदासीन इत्येते5प्यनुवर्णिता:
sparśe cābhyavahārye cāpy upāṁśu-vividhaḥ smṛtaḥ | arir amitra udāsīna ity ete 'py anuvarṇitāḥ ||
毗湿摩说道：“在接触之事与入口之食上，也承认种种隐秘之策（upāṁśu）。同样，‘敌者’、‘非友者’与‘中立者’这几类人物，也被反复加以阐明。”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma emphasizes that governance includes both ethical discernment and practical strategy: one must classify others as enemy, non-friend, or neutral, and understand that covert methods (especially involving contact or ingestion) are discussed in traditional political teachings—though their use demands careful moral judgment within rāja-dharma.
In Shanti Parva, Bhishma instructs Yudhishthira on rāja-dharma and nīti. Here he notes that the treatise includes covert techniques connected with touch and food, and that it repeatedly explains how to deal with different categories of people—enemies, those not allied, and neutrals.