Shloka 4
Ruru–Ḍuṇḍubha Saṃvāda: Śāpa, Mokṣa, and Ahiṃsā-Upadeśa
Chapter 11
यथावीर्यस्त्वया सर्प: कृतो5यं मद्बिभीषया । तथावीर्यों भुजड़स्त्वं मम शापाद् भविष्यसि,“अरे! तूने मुझे डरानेके लिये जैसा अल्प शक्तिवाला सर्प बनाया था, मेरे शापवश ऐसा ही अल्पशक्तिसम्पन्न सर्प तुझे भी होना पड़ेगा”
yathāvīryas tvayā sarpaḥ kṛto ’yaṃ madbibhīṣayā | tathāvīryo bhujaṅgas tvaṃ mama śāpād bhaviṣyasi ||
Ḍuṇḍrubha sprach: „So wie du diese Schlange schwach an Kraft gemacht hast, um mich zu erschrecken, so wirst auch du — durch meinen Fluch — selbst zu einer Schlange von ebenso geminderter Stärke werden.“
डुण्ड्रुभ उवाच
Educational Q&A
Intimidation and deceit invite proportionate consequences: one who deliberately diminishes or harms another to instill fear may face a matching reversal through moral retribution (here expressed as a curse).
Ḍuṇḍrubha addresses the other party, declaring that because they made a serpent weak merely to frighten him, he now pronounces a curse that the offender will likewise become a weak serpent.