Shloka 46

Devanagari script

न हि वैराग्निरुद्धूत: कर्म चाप्यपराधजम्‌ | शाम्यत्यदग्ध्वा नृपते विना होकतरक्षयात्‌

Transliteration

na hi vairāgnir uddhūtaḥ karma cāpy aparādhajam | śāmyaty adagdhvā nṛpate vinā hokatarakṣayāt ||

Translation

王よ、いったん煽られて燃え上がった怨讐の火と、罪過より生じた報いとは、その燃料を焼き尽くさぬかぎり鎮まらない。根の因が尽き果てるときにのみ、それは消え去る。

Word by Word

नnot

हिindeed/for

वैindeed/verily

वैराग्निःthe fire of enmity

उद्धूतःkindled/raised up

कर्मdeed/action

चand

अपिalso/even

अपराधजम्born of offense/wrongdoing

शाम्यतिis pacified/comes to rest

अदग्ध्वाwithout burning (having not burned)

नृपतेO king

विनाwithout/except

लोकतरक्षयात्from the destruction of the other world (i.e., ruin in the next world)

Speaker

ब्रह्मदत्त उवाच

Characters & Entities

ब

ब्रह्मदत्त (Brahmadatta)

न

नृप (king; addressee)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Enmity and the karmic results of wrongdoing have momentum: once ignited, they do not simply fade by wish or denial. They cease only when their sustaining causes—fuel, provocations, and unresolved offenses—are exhausted or consciously removed.

What is happening in the narrative?

Brahmadatta addresses a king, using the metaphor of a fire to counsel about hostility and culpable action: conflict and fault-generated consequences persist until they ‘burn out’—implying the need for restraint, atonement, or removal of the causes that keep them alive.