Shloka 6
मारीचस्य रावणं प्रति नीत्युपदेशः
Maricha’s Counsel on Kingship and Ruin to Ravana
वध्याः खलु न हन्यन्ते सचिवास्तव रावण।ये त्वामुत्पथमारूढं न निगृह्णन्ति सर्वशः।।।।
vadhyāḥ khalu na hanyante sacivās tava rāvaṇa | ye tvām utpatham ārūḍhaṃ na nigṛhṇanti sarvaśaḥ ||
ഹേ രാവണാ! നിന്റെ മന്ത്രിമാർ വധാർഹരത്രേ—എന്നിട്ടും അവർ കൊല്ലപ്പെടുന്നില്ല—നീ കുപഥത്തിലേറി നിൽക്കുമ്പോൾ അവർ എല്ലാ വിധത്തിലും നിന്നെ തടയാത്തതിനാൽ.
O Ravana! the ministers should have prevented you by all means from adopting this wrong path. Since they have not done so, they deserve to be spain.
FAQs
Dharma for ministers is loyal restraint: they must prevent the king from adharma even at personal risk. Silence in the face of the ruler’s wrong course is treated as culpable.
Mārīca rebukes the court around Rāvaṇa for failing to stop him from pursuing a disastrous, unrighteous plan.
Courageous counsel (nīti-dhairya): the moral strength to oppose a powerful leader’s harmful decision.