Shloka 10
कर्कोटक-उपदेशः
Karkoṭaka’s Counsel and Nala’s Concealment
नृशंसं बत राजेन्द्र यन्मामेवंगतामिह । विलपन्तीं समागम्य नाश्वासयसि पार्थिव,'राजेन्द्र! मैं इस प्रकार भय और चिन्तामें पड़कर यहाँ विलाप कर रही हूँ और आप आकर आश्रासन भी नहीं देते! भूपाल! यह तो आपकी बड़ी निर्दयता है
nṛśaṃsaṃ bata rājendra yan mām evaṃgatām iha | vilapantīṃ samāgamya nāśvāsayasi pārthiva ||
‘How cruel this is, O best of kings! Seeing me here in such a state—overcome with fear and anxiety and lamenting—you come near, yet you do not offer me any reassurance. O ruler of the earth, this is sheer heartlessness on your part.’
ब॒हृदश्चव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds a king’s ethical duty of compassion: power and status are hollow if one fails to offer protection and reassurance to the distressed. Emotional care—consoling the fearful and grieving—is presented as a basic obligation of righteous kingship (rājadharma).
A distressed woman, lamenting and in a fearful state, reproaches the king she addresses as ‘rājendra’ and ‘pārthiva’. Though he has approached her, he has not consoled her; she condemns this neglect as cruelty.