Shloka 4

Āśrama-dharma: Duties of the Four Life-Stages (आश्रमधर्मः)

Devanagari script

कोशं दण्डं च दुर्ग च सहायान्‌ मन्त्रिणस्तथा । ऋत्विक्पुरोहिताचार्यान्‌ कीदृशान्‌ वर्जयेन्नप:,“राजाको किस प्रकारके कोश, दण्ड, दुर्ग, सहायक, मन्त्री, ऋत्विकू, पुरोहित और आचार्योंका त्याग कर देना चाहिये?

Transliteration

Vaiśampāyana uvāca: kośaṃ daṇḍaṃ ca durgaṃ ca sahāyān mantriṇas tathā | ṛtvik-purohita-ācāryān kīdṛśān varjayen nṛpaḥ ||

Translation

ဝိုင်ရှမ္ပါယနာက ဆို၏— «မင်းသည် မည်သို့သော خز خز (ဘဏ္ဍာတိုက်)၊ ဒဏ္ဍ (အပြစ်ပေးအာဏာ/တပ်မတော်)၊ ဒုရ္ဂ (ကာကွယ်ရေးခံတပ်)၊ မဟာမိတ်များ၊ ဝန်ကြီးများကို ရှောင်ကြဉ်၍ ပယ်ဖျက်သင့်သနည်း။ ထို့ပြင် ပူဇော်ပွဲဆောင်ရွက်သော ရ္ဍ္ဝိဇ် (ṛtvij) များ၊ ရာဇပူရောဟိတ်များ၊ နှင့် အာစာရျ (ဆရာ) များထဲမှ မည်သို့သောသူတို့ကို ပယ်သင့်သနည်း?»

Word by Word

• कोशम्: treasury
• कोशम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: कोश
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Singular

• दण्डम्: punishment/rod (authority)
• दण्डम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: दण्ड
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Singular

• च: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च

• दुर्गम्: fort
• दुर्गम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: दुर्ग
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• च: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च

• सहायान्: helpers/allies
• सहायान्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: सहाय
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Plural

• मन्त्रिणः: ministers/counsellors
• मन्त्रिणः: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: मन्त्रिन्
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Plural

• तथा: likewise/also
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तथा

• ऋत्विक्: sacrificial priests (ṛtviks)
• ऋत्विक्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: ऋत्विज्
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Plural

• पुरोहित: royal chaplains (purohitas)
• पुरोहित: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: पुरोहित
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Plural

• आचार्यान्: teachers/preceptors
• आचार्यान्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: आचार्य
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Plural

• कीदृशान्: of what kind?
• कीदृशान्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: कीदृश
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Plural

• वर्जयेत्: should avoid/abandon
• Type: Verb
• Root: वृज् (वर्ज्)
• Form: Optative (Vidhi-lin), 3rd, Singular, Parasmaipada

• नृपः: the king
• नृपः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: नृप
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśampāyana
• nṛpa (king)
• kośa (treasury)
• daṇḍa (punitive/royal power)
• durga (fort)
• sahāya (allies/helpers)
• mantrin (ministers)
• ṛtvik (officiating priests)
• purohita (royal chaplain)
• ācārya (teachers/preceptors)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames a rājadharma inquiry: a king must be discerning about the instruments and agents of rule—wealth (kośa), enforcement (daṇḍa), defenses (durga), allies, ministers, and religious-educational authorities—and should reject those that are unfit, corrupt, or harmful to dharma and the realm.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana, narrating the discourse on kingship in Śānti Parva, introduces a question about standards of selection and rejection: which kinds of state resources and key personnel (political, military, and ritual/educational) a king should avoid or dismiss.