Shloka 27
Vyavahāra-Śuddhi and Rājadharma: Clean Administration, Counsel, and Proportional Punishment
Chapter 86
यथोीक्तवादिन दूत॑ क्षत्रधर्मरतो नृपः । यो हन्यात् पितरस्तस्य भ्रूणहत्यामवाप्तुयु:
yathokta-vādinam dūtaṁ kṣatra-dharma-rato nṛpaḥ | yo hanyāt pitaras tasya bhrūṇa-hatyām avāpnuyuḥ ||
毗湿摩说道：纵使国王恪守刹帝利之法（kṣatra-dharma），若杀害那奉其主之命、只据实陈言的使者，则其祖先亦将受极重罪报——此处以杀胎之罪（bhrūṇa-hatyā）譬喻其深重。此偈昭示使者在伦理上不可侵犯；一旦破坏此护持，其业担将远及宗族先灵。
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
A messenger who truthfully delivers his master’s words is ethically protected; killing such an envoy is a grave adharma whose karmic burden extends beyond the king to his ancestral line, expressed as the severe demerit likened to bhrūṇa-hatyā.
In Bhishma’s instruction on righteous conduct in the Shanti Parva, he lays down a rule of statecraft and morality: even a duty-bound warrior-king must not harm an envoy who speaks as instructed; violating this norm brings catastrophic sin affecting the king’s forefathers.