Shloka 16
Vyavahāra-Śuddhi and Rājadharma: Clean Administration, Counsel, and Proportional Punishment
Chapter 86
अथ यो<थधर्मत: पाति राजामात्योडथ वा55त्मज: । धर्मासने संनियुक्तो धर्ममूले नरर्षभ
atha yo ’tha dharmataḥ pāti rājāmātyo ’tha vā ’tmajaḥ | dharmāsane saṁniyukto dharmamūle nararṣabha narāśreṣṭha |
毗湿摩说道：“人中雄牛、人中至善者啊——无论是国王、其大臣，或其王子：若受命坐于以正义为根基的达摩之座（公正之庭），却不依达摩护民，便是失职。若国中其余随王而行的官吏亦不以公平自律，不正当地对待百姓，他们也将与国王一同堕入地狱。”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Those entrusted with judicial and royal authority—king, ministers, and princes—must protect the people according to Dharma; failure in righteous protection and fair conduct brings grave moral consequence, shared by the ruler and his officials.
In the Shanti Parva instruction on statecraft and righteousness, Bhishma addresses Yudhishthira with honorifics and warns that rulers and their subordinate officers, when seated in judgment and charged with governance, must act justly toward the subjects or incur collective downfall.