Shloka 28
अशक्ता ग्रहणे तस्य ततो मन्त्रममन्त्रयन् । एक वनमें कोई बड़ा बुद्धिमान् और स्वार्थ साधनेमें कुशल गीदड़ अपने चार मित्रों-- बाघ, चूहा, भेड़िया और नेवलेके साथ निवास करता था। एक दिन उन सबने हरिणोंके एक सरदारको देखा, जो बड़ा बलवान् था। वे सब उसे पकड़नेमें सफल न हो सके, अतः सबने मिलकर यह सलाह की ।। २६-२७ $ ।। जम्बुक उवाच असकृद् यतितो होष हन्तुं व्यात्र वने त्वया,गीदड़ने कहा--भाई बाघ! तुमने वनमें इस हरिणको मारनेके लिये कई बार यत्न किया, परंतु यह बड़े वेगसे दौड़नेवाला, जवान और बुद्धिमान् है, इसलिये पकड़में नहीं आता। मेरी राय है कि जब यह हरिण सो रहा हो, उस समय यह चूहा इसके दोनों पैरोंको काट खाये। (फिर कटे हुए पैरोंसे यह उतना तेज नहीं दौड़ सकता।) उस अवस्थामें बाघ उसे पकड़ ले; फिर तो हम सब लोग प्रसन्नचित्त होकर उसे खायँगे
jambuka uvāca | asakṛd yatito hoṣa hantuṃ vyāghra vane tvayā |
Unable to seize him, they took counsel together. Jambuka said: “O tiger, again and again you have tried in this forest to kill that stag, yet you have not succeeded. He is swift, in his prime, and clever, and so he does not fall into your grasp. My counsel is this: when the deer is asleep, let the mouse gnaw through both of his legs. Once his legs are cut, he will not be able to run with the same speed; then you can seize him. After that, all of us will eat him with satisfaction.”
जम्बुक उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage illustrates morally dubious ‘clever counsel’: when direct strength fails, one may resort to indirect stratagems. In ethical reading, it warns that intelligence divorced from dharma can become manipulation—effective in outcome, but blameworthy in intent and means.
A jackal advises a tiger who has repeatedly failed to catch a strong, swift deer. The jackal proposes that a mouse should gnaw the deer’s legs while it sleeps, so the tiger can then capture it and the group can eat it.