Shloka 43
Kubera’s Arrival and the Disclosure of Agastya’s Curse
Vaiśaṃpāyana–Janamejaya Narrative
राक्षसं जानमानो5पि यो हन्यान्नरकं व्रजेत् । अपक्वस्य च कालेन वधस्तव न विद्यते,तू हमारे प्रिय कार्योमें मन लगाता था। जो हमें प्रिय न लगे, ऐसा काम नहीं करता था। ब्राह्मण अतिथिके रूपमें आया था और कभी कोई अपराध नहीं किया था। ऐसी दशामें मैं तुझे कैसे मारता? जो राक्षसको राक्षस जानते हुए भी बिना किसी अपराधके उसका वध करता है, वह नरकमें जाता है। अभी तेरा समय पूरा नहीं हुआ था, इसलिये भी आजसे पहले तेरा वध नहीं किया जा सकता था
rākṣasaṃ jānnamāno 'pi yo hanyān narakaṃ vrajet | apakvasya ca kālena vadhas tava na vidyate ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “Even if one knows him to be a rākṣasa, whoever kills him without just cause goes to hell. Moreover, since your destined time had not yet ripened, your death could not occur earlier.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse asserts a dharmic restraint on violence: even against a rākṣasa, killing without a legitimate offense or necessity incurs grave sin (leading to naraka). It also frames death as governed by ripened time (kāla); until one’s time is ‘mature,’ death is not ordained.
Vaiśampāyana explains why the speaker did not kill earlier: (1) unjust killing—even of a known rākṣasa—brings condemnation, and (2) the victim’s destined time had not yet arrived, so his death could not occur before that moment.