Shloka 44

Devanagari script

यत्र संलोडिता लुब्धै: प्रायशो धर्मसेतव: । प्रदीप्तमिव चैलान्तं कस्तं देशं न संत्यजेत्‌,जहाँ लालची मनुष्योंने प्राय: धर्मकी मर्यादाएँ तोड़ डाली हों, जलते हुए कपड़ेकी भाँति उस देशको कौन नहीं त्याग देगा?

Transliteration

yatra saṁloḍitā lubdhaiḥ prāyaśo dharmasetavaḥ | pradīptam iva cailāntaṁ kastaṁ deśaṁ na santyajet ||

Translation

Where greedy people have, for the most part, shattered the boundaries and safeguards of dharma, who would not abandon such a land—like a garment already aflame, fit only to be cast away?

Word by Word

यत्रwhere

संलोडिताःbroken/overthrown

लुब्धैःby the greedy (people)

प्रायशःfor the most part, generally

धर्मसेतवःboundaries/bridges of dharma (moral restraints)

प्रदीप्तम्blazing, on fire

इवlike, as if

चैलान्तम्edge/end of a cloth (hem)

कःwho

तम्that

देशम्country, place

नnot

सन्त्यजेत्would abandon, should leave

Speaker

नारद उवाच

Characters & Entities

Narada

deśa (a land/region)

dharma-setu (moral boundary/bridge)

caila (cloth/garment)

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

When greed becomes dominant and the protective limits of dharma are routinely violated, the society itself turns dangerous and morally “burning”; distancing oneself from such a place is presented as a sensible ethical choice.

What is happening in the narrative?

Narada is offering counsel in the Shanti Parva’s didactic setting, using a vivid simile—an already-burning cloth—to describe a land where dharma’s safeguards have been broken by the greedy, implying that such a place should be abandoned.