Quotes - Raja Dharma Parva

The Mahabharata, Vol. 8
Translated by Bibek Debroy
[Unabridged English translation of the
Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute's
 Critical Edition of the Mahabharata]

This is a selection of quotes from the Raja Dharma Parva. This parva is one of three parvas of the Shanti Parva.

• "There cannot be a treasury without oppression and without it, how is it possible to have an army?"
  
• "When a kingdom goes into decline, the life of that king is one of shame."
  
• "There is no livelihood that exists without violence. Even a solitary sage, active and roaming in the forest, cannot manage to do that." 

• "What is said about dharma is true - it does not exist where there are no riches."
  
• "Dharma is stained by jealousy. Artha is stained by secrecy. Kama is stained by excessive addiction."
  
• "The foundation of the body is dharma, and artha is based on dharma. Kama is said to be the fruit of artha."
  
• "Dharma must not be made to decline, but nor should one come under the subjugation of the enemy." 

• "If the king's treasury is exhausted, his army will decline." 

• "It is rare to find a petitioner who is satisfied with what he has got."
  
• "It is rarer to find a person who does not disrespect a petitioner." 

• "There is nothing that is as emaciated as hope."

• "The dharma of kshatriyas is special. ... All the other dharmas are immersed in this dharma."
  
• "Dharma of vaishyas - donations, studying, the performance of sacrifices, and the accumulation of wealth."
  
• "If one is destroyed, one can perform no act of dharma." 

Quotes - Apad Dharma Parva

These are selected quotes from the Apad Dharma Parva of the Mahabharata. The quotes are taken from Vol.8 of Bibek Debroy's unabridged English translation of the Mahabahrata. I have reviewed all ten volumes, and quotes from previous volumes are also available on my blog or on the Mahabharata blog.

• "Progress on the journey does not take place along a single branch of dharma."
  
  
• "If the root cannot be taken out, nothing must be dug up." 

• "A debt that is not repaid, a fire that has not gone out and an enemy that has not been eliminated, repeatedly keep on growing." 

• "Before striking, he must speak pleasantly. After striking, it should be even more pleasant." 

• "He should be blind when it is best to be blind and he can even resort to being deaf." 

• "There is a time for allying with enemies. There is a time for fighting with friends." 

Mahabharata Quotes - Shalya Parva

Quotes from the Shalya Parva

Shalya, the maternal uncle (Madri's brother) to the Pandavas, took over command of the eviscerated Kaurava army after the death of Karna. He remained commander for not even a full day, and was "slain by Dharmaraja at midday." [9.1] and while the war was over for all practical purposes on the eighteenth day, Shalya Parva continues beyond the eighteenth day and into the nineteenth, and ends only with the duel between Duryodhana and Bhima.

Mahabharata Quotes - Karna Parva

Quotes from the Karna Parva

By the time Karna takes over the reigns of the Kaurava army, the fighting has gone on for fifteen days, and the worst is almost over. Cousin will still kill cousin, and brother will still kill brother, but both armies have been decimated, more so the larger Kaurava army, and Karna is commander for only two days. The seventeenth day also sees Shalya appointed Karna's charioteer - a masterstroke of psychological warfare. Shalya ends up completely distracting Karna, leading to his death at his younger brother Arjuna's hands. Bhima tears apart his cousin Duhshasana, and Sahadeva kills his uncle Shakuni.

Mahabharata Quotes - Drona Parva

After Bhishma falls in battle on the tenth day, there are two important decisions taken. The first is Karna's entry into the war, and the second is the appointment of Drona as the commander of the Kaurava army. The fiercest, bloodiest battle takes place in this parva. It is perhaps most famous for the killing of Abhimanyu, the sixteen year old son of Arjuna, but there are several other incidents that are noteworthy, especially for the way in which they bring out the utter despair of war.

"Learned ones say that in this world, association with the virtuous is more important that a relationship resulting from birth. Do not make your association with the Kurus false."
[Bhishma to Karna, Dronabhisheka Parva, Drona Parva, Ch 4]

"Someone whose objective is at stake, sees things in a different way that another person never can."
[Karna to Duryodhana, Dronabhisheka Parva, Drona Parva, Ch 5]

Mahabharata Quotes - Bhishma Parva

The names of Parvas six through nine of the Mahabharata are easy enough to remember. They are each named after the commander of the Kaurava army during the eighteen day war - Bhishma, Drona, Karna, Shalya. Bhishma Parva then is the name of the sixth parva in the Mahabharata, and it covers the first ten days of the war. More pertinently, the sixty third parva of the Mahabharata, which is the third parva in the Bhishma Parva, is the Bhagavad Gita parva - which contains the song of the lord. I have not included quotes from that parva in this post. That needs to go into a separate post of its own. Here then are selected quotes from the Bhishma Parva.

Mahabharata Quotes - Udyoga Parva

After the Pandavas' thirteen year exile was over, they packed up from Virata and headed off to Kurukshetra to wage war against their cousins, finished off the battle in eighteen nights.

Not quite. The path to war was by no means certain, by no means inevitable. It is a tragedy when one reads the several opportunities for peace that went abegging. The story of the terrible eighteen day war often relegates the tale of the Udyoga Parva to a mere footnote. The other story in the Udyoga Parva notable in its own right is that of Amba. In between the several parleys that went on between the Pandavas and Kauravas, there is the staggering Prajagara Parva, where Vidura expounds an entire treatise on statecraft in the middle of the night to Dhritarashtra. It is the presence of such nuggets that make the Mahabharata another reason to read in its entirety.

Mahabharata Quotes - Virata Parva

The Virata Parva is the fourth parva in the Mahabharata, and the shortest of the first four, clocking in at under two thousand shlokas, and covers the thirteenth year of exile in incognito the Pandavas have to spend, which they do in the King Virata's kingdom.

Covers of Vols 1 - 6

These quotes are from the unabridged translation of the Mahabharata by Dr Bibek Debroy (my reviews: Vol.1, Vol.2, Vol. 3, Vol. 4, Vol.5 (1, 2), Vol. 6 (1, 2, 3)). The Virata Parva begins with the fourth volume of the translation, and ends someway around the half-way mark. Then starts the Udyoga Parva, which also features the story of Amba.

The start of the parva, where the Pandava's consiglieri, Sage Dhoumya, advises them on how to conduct themselves while in exile, could well have been taken from an HR manual for executives at a Fortune 500 company.
On to the quotes.

Mahabharata Quotes - Aranyaka Parva

The Aranyaka Parva is the third parva in the Mahabharata, and in my reckoning one of the riches in terms of content. While the Adi Parva is literally the book of the beginning, and contains stories few may have heard of of the origins of few know of, and even fewer associate as belonging in the Mahabharata (like that of Uddalaka Aruni), and the Sabha Parva is perhaps the most pivotal of all parvas, as it lays the foundations of the destruction to be wrought thirteen and some years hence, the Aranyaka Parva is literally a goldmine of stories - a veritable forest of tales and philosophical discourses. Stories that are told, most of them by Sage Markandeya - and who himself has a story behind his everlasting life, as the Pandavas spend the twelve years of their exile in the forest, waiting, preparing, pondering. The thirteenth year, to be spent incognito while living among people, forms the fourth parva, the Virata Parva.

Covers of Vols 1 - 6

This post then collates quotable quotes from the third parva, the Aranyaka Parva, which at more than 10,000 shlokas, also happens to be the second longest parva in the epic, right behind Shanti Parva. This Parva starts in Vol. 2 of the unabridged translation of the Mahabharata by Dr Bibek Debroy (my reviews: Vol.1, Vol.2, Vol. 3, Vol. 4, Vol.5 (1, 2), Vol. 6 (1, 2, 3)), and continues into Vol. 3.

The second chapter in the parva is itself an exposition of Samkhya Yoga, and in the words of Dr Debroy, "This entire section is reminiscent of the Bhagvad Gita."
On to the quotes then.

• "There are four kinds of reasons behind physical sorrow - disease, the touch of something painful, labour, and distance from loved things."
  [Shounaka recounting King Janaka's shlokas  to Yudhishtra, Aranyaka Parva, Aranyaka Parva, Ch 2] (the first sub-parva in the Aranyaka Parva is also named Aranyaka Parva)

Mahabharata Quotes - Sabha Parva

Covers of Vols 1 - 6

My earlier post, collected some of the more interesting quotes from the first Parva of the Mahabharata, the Adi Parva. This post continues with a collection collated from the second Parva, the Sabha Parva. This Parva is contained entirely in Vol. 2 of the unabridged translation of the Mahabharata by Dr Bibek Debroy (My reviews: Vol.1, Vol.2, Vol. 3, Vol. 4, Vol.5 (1, 2), Vol. 6 (1, 2, 3)).

Narad muni's discourse to Yudhishtra, after the latter had settled down in the grand palace at Indraprastha, architected by the asura architect Maya, is quite notable as a piece of mini niti-shastra. I have taken the liberty of including many quotes from it, though I would recommend that people read it in its entirety.

"Do you hurt dharma by artha or artha by dharma or both for the sake of pleasures that kama brings?"
[Sage Narada to Yudhishtra, Sabha Parva, Sabha Parva, Ch 5] (the first sub-Parva in the Sabha Parva is also named "Sabha Parva")

"Surely you do not seek the advice from only one, or from too many."
[Sage Narada to Yudhishtra, Sabha Parva, Sabha Parva, Ch 5]

"Do you purchase a single learned man for one thousand foolish ones?"
[Sage Narada to Yudhishtra, Sabha Parva, Sabha Parva, Ch 5]

"Have you appointed superior men in superior positions and medium ones in medium positions?"
[Sage Narada to Yudhishtra, Sabha Parva, Sabha Parva, Ch 5]

Mahabharata Quotes - Adi Parva

The Mahabharata is a goldmine of stories, episodes, conversations, and incidents. As I read the Mahabharata - specifically the unabridged translation by Dr Bibek Debroy (it is a task as yet unfinished, primarily because Dr Debroy has completed six volumes of the translation and Penguin is expected to publish the seventh volume in April), I underlined passages, excerpts, dialogues, quotes that caught my eye. Yes, many of the books I read (and own) are littered with these underlinings. A book once owned and read is rarely left in a pristine condition, severely affecting its resale value I suppose.

I thought of how to collect some of these memorable excerpts into one place, and then decided that organizing them by parva, one post for each of the eighteen major parvas in the epic, would be as good a way as any. Now, based on the first parva, the Adi Parva, it seems that publishing them by parva may indeed work. If it turns out to be impractical, because of the length - too short or too long, then I will adopt a horses for courses strategy. If dharma can be subtle, so can a blog strategy.

The very first parva is the Adi Parva, and is contained mostly in the first volume of the translation. In this post, I have collected some of the notable quotes from this parva.

• "Time brings existence and non-existence, pleasure and pain. Time creates all elements and time destroys all beings. ... Time cannot be conquered. Time walks in all elements, pervasive and impartial."
  [Sanjaya to Dhritarashtra, Anukramanika Parva, Adi Parva, Ch 1]
  

• "There is no curse that does not have a remedy. O snakes! But he who has been cursed by his mother has no remedy."
  [Vasuki, Astika Parva, Adi Parva, Ch 33]
  

• "One who is afflicted by destiny can find a remedy in destiny alone."
  [Elapatra to Vasuki, Astika Parva, Adi Parva, Ch 34]