Shloka 11
मारीचप्रलोभनम् / Ravana Solicits Maricha’s Aid
Golden Deer Stratagem
दुश्शीलः कर्कशस्तीक्ष्णो मूर्खो लुब्धोऽजितेन्द्रियः।।।।त्यक्तधर्मो ह्यधर्मात्मा भूतानामहिते रतः।
duśśīlaḥ karkaśas tīkṣṇo mūrkho lubdho 'jitendriyaḥ | tyakta-dharmo hy adharma-ātmā bhūtānām ahite rataḥ || 3.36.11 ||
‘അവൻ ദുഷ്ശീലൻ, കർക്കശനും തീക്ഷ്ണനും, മൂഢനും ലോഭിയും, ഇന്ദ്രിയങ്ങളെ ജയിക്കാത്തവനും ആകുന്നു; ധർമ്മം ഉപേക്ഷിച്ച അധർമ്മാത്മാവായി ജീവജാലങ്ങളുടെ അഹിതത്തിൽ രമിക്കുന്നവൻ’—ഇങ്ങനെ (രാവണൻ) അവനെ നിന്ദിക്കുന്നു.
He is a man of bad conduct, harsh, sharp-tonged, stupid, miserly and a slave to his senses. He is immoral and unrighteous, one who is busy harming others.
FAQs
The verse is a negative ethical example: speech that abandons satya and dharma becomes a tool of violence; character assassination is itself an adharma that prepares the mind for further wrongdoing.
Rāvaṇa attempts to persuade Mārīca by portraying Rāma as immoral and harmful, thereby trying to make cooperation in a deceitful plot appear acceptable.
Indirectly, the virtue at stake is self-mastery (jitendriyatā) and righteous conduct; Rāvaṇa’s accusations invert these ideals, revealing his own moral confusion.