Shloka 18

राष्ट्रगुप्ति-संग्रहः

Protection of the Realm and Principles of Revenue & Local Administration

Devanagari script

नोच्छिन्द्यादात्मनो मूलं परेषां चापि तृष्णया

Transliteration

nocchindyād ātmano mūlaṁ pareṣāṁ cāpi tṛṣṇayā

Translation

毗湿摩说道：“出于贪欲，国王不可斩断自身福祉之根——亦不可斩断他人之根。切莫因贪求过甚而毁坏百姓赖以生存之本，如农耕与生计。应当关闭贪婪之门，使自己成为令万民一见便心生欢悦的君主；因为一旦统治者以横征暴敛、剥削过度而著称，举国之民必将憎恨他。”

Word by Word

• {'na': 'not', 'ucchindyāt (√chid)': 'should cut off, destroy, uproot', 'ātmanas': 'of oneself

• one’s own', 'mūlam': 'root

• source of stability', 'pareṣām': 'of others

• of the people/subjects', 'ca api': 'and also', 'tṛṣṇayā': 'by thirst/craving

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• rājā (king)
• prajā (subjects/people)
• kṛṣi (agriculture; implied by ‘kheti-bāṛī’ in the given context)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

A ruler must restrain greed and avoid policies that uproot the economic and social foundations of both the kingdom and the people—especially livelihoods like agriculture. Excessive extraction breeds public hatred and undermines the king’s own stability.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on rājadharma (the duties of kings). Here he warns that craving-driven exploitation—such as harming the people’s means of living—destroys the kingdom’s root and turns the populace against the ruler.