Shloka 4

धन-राजधर्म संवादः

Discourse on Wealth and Royal Duty

Devanagari script

शत्रून्‌ हत्वा महीं लब्ध्वा स्वधर्मेणोपपादिताम्‌ | एवंविध॑ं कथं सर्व त्यजेथा बुद्धिलाघवात्‌

Transliteration

śatrūn hatvā mahīṁ labdhvā svadharmeṇopapāditām | evaṁvidhaṁ kathaṁ sarvaṁ tyajethā buddhi-lāghavāt ||

Translation

“Having slain the enemies, you have obtained sovereignty over the earth, won in accordance with your own dharma. How, then, can you abandon all that has come into your hands—such as this—merely out of weakness and shallowness of judgment?”

Word by Word

• {'śatrūn': 'enemies, adversaries (accusative plural of śatru)', 'hatvā': 'having slain, after killing (absolutive of √han)', 'mahīm': 'the earth

• realm (accusative singular of mahī)', 'labdhvā': 'having obtained, having gained (absolutive of √labh)', 'svadharmeṇa': 'by/through one’s own dharma

• by rightful duty (instrumental singular of svadharma)', 'upapāditām': 'brought about, duly accomplished/secured

• obtained in a proper manner (past passive participle, feminine accusative singular agreeing with mahīm)', 'evaṁvidham': 'of this kind

• such as this (accusative singular)', 'katham': 'how? why? (interrogative adverb)', 'sarvam': 'all

• the whole (accusative singular)', 'tyajethāḥ/tyajetha': 'you would abandon/renounce (2nd person plural/dual form as transmitted

• sense: ‘you (people) abandon’)', 'buddhi-lāghavāt': 'from lightness/shallowness of intellect

Speaker

अर्जुन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Arjuna
• enemies (śatru)
• earth/kingdom (mahī)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse argues that when power and prosperity have been gained through rightful duty (svadharma), abandoning them out of intellectual weakness is ethically blameworthy; responsibility should match the means by which one’s position was obtained.

What is happening in the narrative?

Arjuna addresses a ruler/party who has secured the realm by defeating enemies in a dharmic struggle, and he challenges the impulse to renounce the hard-won kingdom, calling it a lapse of judgment rather than true virtue.