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

«Après avoir abattu les ennemis, vous avez obtenu la souveraineté sur la terre, acquise selon votre propre dharma. Comment donc pourriez-vous abandonner tout ce qui est venu entre vos mains—comme cela—par simple faiblesse et par légèreté de jugement ?»

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.