Shloka 5
Draupadī’s Rebuke of Jayadratha and Dhaumya’s Admonition (Āraṇyaka-parva, Adhyāya 252)
अतिभीरुमतिकक्लीबं दीर्घसूत्रं प्रमादिनम् । व्यसनाद् विषयाक्रान्तं न भजन्ति नृपं प्रजा:
atibhīrumati-kaklībaṁ dīrghasūtraṁ pramādinam | vyasanād viṣayākrāntaṁ na bhajanti nṛpaṁ prajāḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana dit : Le peuple n’agrée pas pour roi celui dont l’esprit est d’une crainte excessive—lâche et sans vigueur, lent à agir et négligent—et qui, poussé par le vice, est dominé par les plaisirs des sens. Un tel homme manque à la discipline de la royauté et perd l’allégeance de ses sujets.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
A ruler’s legitimacy depends on inner discipline and decisive courage. If a king is ruled by fear, procrastination, negligence, and addictions to pleasures, the people naturally withdraw allegiance; kingship requires self-mastery before mastery of the realm.
Vaiśampāyana states a general principle of rājadharma: the populace does not accept as sovereign a king who is timid, irresolute, and dominated by vices and sense-enjoyments. The verse functions as ethical-political instruction about the standards expected of a ruler.