Shloka 5
Yayāti’s Abdication and Pūru’s Coronation (ययाति-पूोरु-राज्याभिषेकः)
वधादनर्हतस्तस्य वधाच्च दुहितुर्मम । वृषपर्वन् निबोधेदं त्यक्ष्यामि त्वां सबान्धवम् । स्थातुं त्वद्विषये राजन् न शक्ष्यामि त्ववा सह,*वृषपर्वन्! ध्यान देकर मेरी यह बात सुन लो, तुम्हारे द्वारा पहले वधके अयोग्य ब्राह्यणका वध किया गया है और अब मेरी पुत्री देवयानीका भी वध करनेके लिये उसे कुएँमें ढकेला गया है। इन दोनों हत्याओंके कारण मैं तुमको और तुम्हारे भाई-बन्धुओंको त्याग दूँगा। राजन! तुम्हारे राज्यमें और तुम्हारे साथ मैं एक क्षण भी नहीं ठहर सकूँगा
vadhādanarhatas tasya vadhāc ca duhitur mama | vṛṣaparvan nibodhedaṃ tyakṣyāmi tvāṃ sabāndhavam | sthātuṃ tvadviṣaye rājan na śakṣyāmi tvayā saha vṛṣaparvan ||
Vaiśaṃpāyana said: “Because you have slain one who was not fit to be slain, and because you have also sought the death of my daughter—having had her cast into a well—listen, O Vṛṣaparvan: I will renounce you along with all your kinsmen. O king, I cannot remain for even a moment in your realm, nor in your company.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a moral boundary for kingship: violence against the undeserving—especially against a Brahmin and an innocent woman—constitutes grave adharma, warranting social and spiritual rupture. The threatened renunciation signals that power cannot override ethical restraint and that protection of the vulnerable is central to righteous rule.
In the Devayānī episode, the speaker (as narrated by Vaiśaṃpāyana) conveys a stern ultimatum to King Vṛṣaparvan: because a wrongful killing has occurred and Devayānī has been nearly murdered by being thrown into a well, the offended party declares he will abandon the king and his entire circle and cannot remain in that kingdom or with that ruler.