Shloka 21
ययाति–शक्रसंवादः
Speech-Ethics and Forbearance in the Celestial Court
शर्मिष्टोवाच अधर्मात् पाहि मां राजन् धर्म च प्रतिपादय । त्वत्तो5पत्यवती लोके चरेयं धर्ममुत्तमम्,शर्मिष्ठाने कहा--राजन्! मुझे अधर्मसे बचाइये और धर्मका पालन कराइये। मैं चाहती हूँ, आपसे संतानवती होकर इस लोकमें उत्तम धर्मका आचरण करूँ
śarmiṣṭhovāca | adharmāt pāhi māṃ rājan dharmaṃ ca pratipādaya | tvatto 'patyavatī loke careyaṃ dharmam uttamam |
Śarmiṣṭhā said: “O King, protect me from unrighteousness and set me firmly on the path of dharma. By having children through you, may I live in this world practicing the highest dharma.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames dharma as something a ruler should actively safeguard and cultivate: protection from adharma is not merely avoidance of wrongdoing but a positive establishment in righteous conduct, linked here to social legitimacy and the ethical ordering of family life.
Śarmiṣṭhā addresses a king, pleading for protection from an unrighteous situation and asking to be guided into dharma; she expresses a desire to become a mother through him and thereby live according to the ‘highest dharma’ within the world’s social and moral framework.