Shloka 28
राज्यं चाप्युग्रविभ्रंशं संशयो जीवितस्य वा । न लब्धस्य हि शत्रोर्व शेषं कुर्वन्ति साधव:,जिसका भयानक रूपसे पतन हुआ है, वह राज्य प्राप्त हो जाय या जीवन ही संकटमें पड़ जाय, किसी भी दशामें अपने हाथमें आये हुए शत्रुको श्रेष्ठ पुरुष शेष नहीं रहने देते हैं
rājyaṁ cāpy ugravibhraṁśaṁ saṁśayo jīvitasya vā | na labdhasya hi śatror vai śeṣaṁ kurvanti sādhavaḥ ||
Whether the kingdom—already shaken by a dreadful collapse—might yet be secured, or whether even one’s very life should fall into peril, in any case the noble do not allow an enemy who has come into their grasp to remain as a surviving remnant.
पुत्र उवाच
Educational Q&A
In matters of statecraft and survival, once an enemy is decisively within one’s power, the prudent and capable do not leave a surviving remnant that could revive the threat—especially when the kingdom and life itself are at stake.
A son (putra) speaks in counsel, weighing the peril to kingship and life, and argues for a hard, decisive policy toward an enemy already captured or subdued, presenting it as the conduct of ‘sādhavaḥ’ in a crisis.