Shloka 9
Aśmagīta: Janaka’s Inquiry on Loss, Kāla, and the Limits of Control (अश्मगीता)
तमतिक्रान्तमर्यादमाददानमसाम्प्रतम् । प्रतिषेधन्ति राजानो लुब्धा मृगमिवेषुभि:
tam atikrāntamaryādam ādādānam asāmpratam | pratiṣedhanti rājāno lubdhā mṛgam iveṣubhiḥ ||
जसा व्याध आपल्या बाणांनी हरिणाला पुढे धावण्यापासून थांबवतो, तसाच जो मनुष्य मर्यादा ओलांडून अनुचित व असमयी रीतीने दुसऱ्यांचे धन हडप करतो, त्याला राजे दंडाने कुमार्गापासून परावृत्त करतात।
जनक उवाच
Educational Q&A
Crossing moral boundaries and unlawfully taking others’ wealth is a dharmic violation; the king’s role is to restrain such conduct through daṇḍa (punishment), preserving social order and preventing people from continuing on a wrongful path.
In Janaka’s speech, he uses a simile: as hunters halt a deer with arrows, so rulers check a transgressor—one who oversteps maryādā and seizes others’ property—by enforcing restraint and punishment.