Shloka 19
अपध्वस्तस्त्ववमतो दुःखं जीवितमृच्छति । जीवेच्च यदपध्वस्तस्तच्छुद्ध मरणं भवेत्,वह अपने पदसे भ्रष्ट और अपमानित होकर दुःखमय जीवन बिताता है। यदि पदश्रष्ट होकर भी वह जीता है तो वह जीवन भी स्पष्टरूपमें मरण ही है
apadhvastas tv avamato duḥkhaṁ jīvitam ṛcchati | jīvec ca yad apadhvastas tac chuddhaṁ maraṇaṁ bhavet ||
Kāmandaka said: “One who has been cast down from his position and treated with contempt comes to a life filled with suffering. And if, though thus fallen, he continues to live on, that very life is, in truth, nothing but a clear form of death.”
कामन्दक उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse stresses the ethical and psychological weight of honor and social standing in a ruler’s life: when a person is stripped of position and subjected to contempt, the resulting existence is so painful and diminished that it is likened to ‘sheer death’ even while breathing.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on statecraft and conduct, Kāmandaka speaks as a moral-political adviser, warning about the misery that follows loss of status and public respect, and using a stark metaphor to underline the urgency of preserving dignity and rightful station.