Shloka 57
Aśmagīta: Janaka’s Inquiry on Loss, Kāla, and the Limits of Control (अश्मगीता)
समं हि धर्म चरतो नृपस्य द्रव्याणि चाभ्याहरतो यथावत् । प्रवृत्तधर्मस्य यशो 5भिवर्धते सर्वेषु लोकेषु चराचरेषु,राजा यदि नियमपूर्वक प्रजाके निकटसे करके रूपमें द्रव्य ग्रहण करे और राग-द्वेषसे रहित हो राजधर्मका पालन करता रहे तो उस धर्मपरायण नरेशका सुयश सम्पूर्ण चराचर लोकोंमें फैल जाता है
Janaka uvāca:
Samaṁ hi dharmaṁ carato nṛpasya dravyāṇi cābhyāharato yathāvat |
Pravṛttadharmasya yaśo ’bhivardhate sarveṣu lokeṣu carācareṣu ||
Janaka said: “When a king practices dharma with impartiality and collects revenues and goods from his subjects in the proper, lawful manner, his fame increases. For the ruler who remains steadily engaged in righteous governance, good renown spreads through all worlds—among all beings, moving and unmoving.”
जनक उवाच
Educational Q&A
A ruler’s legitimacy and lasting fame arise from impartial adherence to dharma and from collecting revenue only in the proper, prescribed way—without personal bias, greed, or hostility.
Janaka is instructing on rajadharma: he describes the ideal king who governs righteously and fairly, and explains that such conduct naturally causes the king’s good reputation to spread everywhere.