Shloka 58
अनेन वीर्येण कथं स्त्रियं प्रार्थथसे बलात्,“राजकुमार! लौटो, तुम्हें पीठ दिखाकर भागना शोभा नहीं देता। अपने सेवकोंको शत्रुओंके बीचमें छोड़कर कैसे भागे जा रहे हो? क्या इसी बलसे तुम दूसरेकी स्त्रीको बलपूर्वक हरकर ले जाना चाहते थे?”
anena vīryeṇa kathaṃ striyaṃ prārthathase balāt | rājaputra! lauto, tvāṃ pṛṣṭhaṃ darśayitvā palāyanaṃ na śobhate | sva-sevakān śatrūṇāṃ madhye parityajya kathaṃ palāyase | kim anenaiva balena parasya striyaṃ balād āhṛtya netum icchasi ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “With such ‘valor,’ how can you seek a woman by force? O prince, turn back—flight with your back shown is not becoming. How can you run away, abandoning your own attendants amid the enemies? Was it with this very strength that you meant to seize another man’s wife and carry her off by violence?”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
True valor is inseparable from dharma: a warrior should not flee dishonorably, should not abandon his dependents in danger, and should never justify the forcible taking of another man’s wife as an act of strength.
The speaker rebukes a prince who is retreating from enemies while leaving his own attendants behind, exposing the hypocrisy of claiming ‘heroism’ while attempting (or intending) to seize a woman by force.