Shloka 52
Adhyaya 7 — Harishchandra Tested by Vishvamitra: The Gift of the Kingdom and the Pandava Curse-Backstory
पथि पांशुपरिक्लिष्टं मुखं कीदृग्भविष्यति ।
तिष्ठ तिष्ठ नृपश्रेष्ठ स्वधर्ममनुपालय ॥
pathi pāṁśu-parikliṣṭaṁ mukhaṁ kīdṛg bhaviṣyati | tiṣṭha tiṣṭha nṛpaśreṣṭha sva-dharmam anupālaya ||
«Wie wird dein Antlitz aussehen, wenn es vom Staub des Weges beschmutzt ist? Steh fest, steh fest, o bester der Könige—folge und schütze dein eigenes Dharma.»
{ "primaryRasa": "karuna", "secondaryRasa": "dharma", "rasaIntensity": 0, "emotionalArcPosition": "", "moodDescriptors": [] }
FAQs
The verse urges firmness in one’s rightful duty (svadharma), especially for a ruler. The image of a dust-grimed face on the road implies the humiliation and hardship of abandoning one’s station or fleeing responsibility; the counsel is to endure and govern/act according to dharma rather than be driven by fear, despair, or impulse.
This verse is primarily dharma-śikṣā (ethical instruction) within narrative, not directly one of the five (sarga, pratisarga, vaṁśa, manvantara, vaṁśānucarita). It most closely aligns with vaṁśānucarita/narrative exemplum in which moral counsel is embedded, but it is not itself a cosmological or genealogical datum.
Symbolically, “dust on the road” can signify rajas (restless passion) and the outward turbulence of saṁsāra that obscures the ‘face’ (one’s discernment/inner clarity). The emphatic ‘stand firm’ points to steadiness (sthiti) as a spiritual and ethical power: remaining established in dharma prevents the mind from being dragged into reactive flight and degradation.