Shloka 10
Saṃvaraṇa’s Petition and Tapatī’s Conditioned Consent (सम्वरण-तपती संवादः)
आगततस्य गृहं त्यागस्तथैव शरणार्थिन: । याचमानस्य च वधो नृशंसो गर्हितो बुधै:,यदि मैंने जान-बूझकर ब्राह्मणका वध करा दिया तो वह बड़ा ही नीच और क्रूरतापूर्ण कर्म होगा। उससे छुटकारा पानेका कोई उपाय मुझे नहीं सूझता। घरपर आये हुए तथा शरणार्थीका त्याग और अपनी रक्षाके लिये याचना करनेवालेका वध--यह विद्दानोंकी रायमें अत्यन्त क्रूर एवं निन्दित कर्म है
āgatatasya gṛhaṃ tyāgas tathaiva śaraṇārthinaḥ | yācamānasya ca vadho nṛśaṃso garhito budhaiḥ ||
The brāhmaṇa said: “To turn away one who has come to one’s house, and likewise to abandon a person seeking refuge; and to kill one who begs for protection—such acts are cruel and condemned by the wise.”
ब्राह्मण उवाच
Educational Q&A
Hospitality and protection are binding duties: rejecting a guest or refuge-seeker, and especially killing someone who pleads for safety, is portrayed as a grievously cruel act condemned by the learned.
A brāhmaṇa articulates a moral judgment in the midst of a dilemma: he frames abandonment of a guest/refuge-seeker and the killing of a supplicant as ethically reprehensible, appealing to the standard of the wise (budha) as authority.