Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 18
मद्वाक्यान्मुज्च मे भार्या कस्मात् तां हृतवानसि । लोकपालो<सि लोकानां न लोकस्य विलोपक:
madvākyān muñca me bhāryāṃ kasmāt tāṃ hṛtavān asi | lokapālo 'si lokānāṃ na lokasya vilopakaḥ | muñca bhāryām utathyasya kasmāt tvaṃ hṛtavān asi ||
Arjuna said: “At my word, release my wife. Why have you carried her off? You are appointed as a lokapāla, a guardian of the worlds, not a destroyer of the world’s order. Release Utathya’s wife—why have you abducted her?” In this appeal, the speaker confronts Varuṇa by invoking the ethical duty of a lokapāla: power must protect social and moral order, not violate it through coercive seizure of another’s lawful spouse.
अजुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Authority—especially divine or royal authority—must function as lokapāla (protector) and uphold dharma; taking another’s lawful spouse by force is condemned as a violation of social and moral order.
The speaker confronts Varuṇa for abducting a woman identified as a lawful wife and demands her release, arguing that Varuṇa’s role as a world-guardian obliges him to protect, not violate, the world’s order.