Shloka 13
Kubera’s Arrival and the Disclosure of Agastya’s Curse
Vaiśaṃpāyana–Janamejaya Narrative
इधर जिन्हें वह जटासुर हरकर लिये जा रहा था *वे धर्मराज युधिष्ठिर उससे इस प्रकार बोले--“अरे मूर्ख! इस प्रकार (विश्वासघात करनेसे) तो तेरे धर्मका ही नाश हो रहा है। किंतु उधर तेरी दृष्टि नहीं जाती है ।। येअन्ये क्वचिन्मनुष्येषु तिर्यग्योनिगताश्व ये । धर्म ते समवेक्षन्ते रक्षांसि च विशेषत:,“दूसरे भी जहाँ कहीं मनुष्य अथवा पशु-पक्षीकी योनिमें स्थित प्राणी हैं, वे सभी धर्मपर दृष्टि रखते हैं। राक्षस तो (पशु-पक्षीकी अपेक्षा भी) विशेषरूपसे धर्मका विचार करते हैं
vaiśampāyana uvāca—tadā dharmarājo yudhiṣṭhiras taṃ jaṭāsuraṃ praty uvāca: “are mūḍha! evaṃ viśvāsaghātena tavaiva dharmasya nāśo bhavati; kintu tatra te dṛṣṭir na gacchati. ye ’nye kvacin manuṣyeṣu tiryagyoni-gatāś ca ye, dharmaṃ te samavekṣante; rākṣāṃsi ca viśeṣataḥ.”
Vaiśampāyana said: As Jaṭāsura was carrying them away, Dharmarāja Yudhiṣṭhira addressed him: “Fool! By this act of treachery you are destroying your own dharma, though your gaze does not turn to that truth. Wherever there are beings born among humans or in animal and bird wombs, they too keep dharma in view; and rākṣasas, in particular, are expected to weigh dharma even more carefully.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Betrayal of trust destroys one’s own dharma; moral awareness is expected of all beings, and those with power (here, rākṣasas) are held to an even higher standard of ethical reflection.
During the Jaṭāsura incident in the forest, Yudhiṣṭhira rebukes the rākṣasa who is abducting them, condemning the act as treacherous and reminding him that even non-human beings are expected to consider dharma.