Shloka 463
Samrāt-Lakṣaṇa and the Counsel to Check Jarāsandha (सम्राट्-लक्षणं जरासन्ध-प्रतिबाधा-परामर्शः)
पतिघ्नं मे जहीत्येवं पुन: पुनररिंदम । शत्रुदमन राजेन्द्र! फिर जब पतिके शोकसे पीड़ित हुई कंसकी कमललोचना भार्या अपने पिता मगधनरेश जरासंधके पास जाकर उसे बार-बार उकसाने लगी कि मेरे पतिके घातकको मार डालो
patighnaṁ me jahīty evaṁ punaḥ punar arindama | śatrudamana rājendra |
Śrī Kṛṣṇa said: “Again and again she urged him with these words: ‘Slay the killer of my husband!’” Thus, tormented by grief for her slain lord, Kaṁsa’s lotus-eyed wife went to her father, Jarāsandha, king of Magadha, and repeatedly incited him to vengeance. The episode shows how private sorrow can harden into a demand for retributive violence, setting tension between personal revenge and the wider duties of kingship.
श्रीकृष्ण उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage underscores an ethical pressure-point in epic politics: grief-driven revenge can compel rulers toward violence. It invites reflection on whether a king should act from personal provocation or from broader dharma—public welfare, proportionality, and just cause.
After Kaṁsa’s death, his widow, overwhelmed by sorrow, approaches her father Jarāsandha of Magadha and repeatedly urges him to kill her husband’s slayer. Kṛṣṇa recounts this to explain how Jarāsandha was stirred toward hostility and war.