Shloka 57
Adhyaya 69 — The King’s Neglect of His Wife and the Restoration of Dharma
ऋषिरुवाच किं विस्मृतं ते यत्पत्नी त्वया त्यक्ता च कानने ।
परित्यक्तस्तया सार्धं त्वया धर्मो नृपाखिलः ॥
ṛṣir uvāca kiṃ vismṛtaṃ te yat patnī tvayā tyaktā ca kānane | parityaktas tayā sārdhaṃ tvayā dharmo nṛpākhilaḥ ||
ঋষিয়ে ক’লে—তুমি কি পাহৰি গ’লা যে তুমি অৰণ্যত তোমাৰ পত্নীক পৰিত্যাগ কৰিছিলা? তাইৰ সৈতে, হে ৰাজা, তুমি সমগ্ৰ ধৰ্মও ত্যাগ কৰিছিলা।
FAQs
The wife is treated as a partner in dharma (not merely a dependent). Abandoning her is framed as abandoning dharma itself—because household life, ritual continuity, and ethical order are sustained through that covenant.
Dharma/ācāra teaching inside Manvantara narrative. While not a formal pancalakṣaṇa category, Purāṇas routinely embed such normative teaching within manvantara stories.
‘Forest’ can symbolize withdrawal from ordered life into unregulated impulse. Leaving the patnī (dharma-companion) signifies severing the inner principle of steadiness and sacred responsibility.