Shloka 4

धन-राजधर्म संवादः

Discourse on Wealth and Royal Duty

Devanagari script

शत्रून्‌ हत्वा महीं लब्ध्वा स्वधर्मेणोपपादिताम्‌ | एवंविध॑ं कथं सर्व त्यजेथा बुद्धिलाघवात्‌,आपने शत्रुओंका संहार करके इस पृथ्वीपर अधिकार प्राप्त किया है। यह राज्यलक्ष्मी आपको अपने धर्मके अनुसार प्राप्त हुई है। इस प्रकार जो यह सब कुछ आपके हाथमें आया है, इसे आप अपनी अल्पबुद्धिके कारण क्‍यों छोड़ रहे हैं?

Transliteration

śatrūn hatvā mahīṁ labdhvā svadharmeṇopapāditām | evaṁvidhaṁ kathaṁ sarvaṁ tyajethā buddhi-lāghavāt ||

Translation

「敵を討ち、あなたはこの大地の主権を得た。それはあなた自身のダルマにかなって授かった王権である。しかるに、どうして手中に収めたすべて――このようなものまで――を、ただ弱さと浅薄な判断ゆえに捨て去ることができようか。」

Word by Word

• {'śatrūn': 'enemies, adversaries (accusative plural of śatru)', 'hatvā': 'having slain, after killing (absolutive of √han)', 'mahīm': 'the earth

• realm (accusative singular of mahī)', 'labdhvā': 'having obtained, having gained (absolutive of √labh)', 'svadharmeṇa': 'by/through one’s own dharma

• by rightful duty (instrumental singular of svadharma)', 'upapāditām': 'brought about, duly accomplished/secured

• obtained in a proper manner (past passive participle, feminine accusative singular agreeing with mahīm)', 'evaṁvidham': 'of this kind

• such as this (accusative singular)', 'katham': 'how? why? (interrogative adverb)', 'sarvam': 'all

• the whole (accusative singular)', 'tyajethāḥ/tyajetha': 'you would abandon/renounce (2nd person plural/dual form as transmitted

• sense: ‘you (people) abandon’)', 'buddhi-lāghavāt': 'from lightness/shallowness of intellect

Speaker

अर्जुन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Arjuna
• enemies (śatru)
• earth/kingdom (mahī)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse argues that when power and prosperity have been gained through rightful duty (svadharma), abandoning them out of intellectual weakness is ethically blameworthy; responsibility should match the means by which one’s position was obtained.

What is happening in the narrative?

Arjuna addresses a ruler/party who has secured the realm by defeating enemies in a dharmic struggle, and he challenges the impulse to renounce the hard-won kingdom, calling it a lapse of judgment rather than true virtue.