Shloka 21
Adhyāya 9: Pratiśruta-Dāna
The Duty to Fulfill Promised Gifts
पृथ्वीनाथ! ब्राह्मणको पहले आशा दे देनेपर वह समिधासे प्रज्वलित हुई अग्निके समान उद्दीप्त हो उठता है ।।
pṛthvīnātha! brāhmaṇako pahale āśā de denepara vaha samidhā-se prajvalita huī agni ke samāna uddīpta ho uṭhatā hai. yaṁ nirīkṣeta saṁkruddha āśayā pūrvajātayā | pradhec ca hi taṁ rājan kakṣam akṣayya-bhug yathā ||
Wika ni Bhīṣma: “O panginoon ng lupa! Kapag ang isang Brāhmaṇa ay unang binigyan ng pag-asa, siya’y nag-aalab nang matindi—gaya ng apoy na pinakain ng mga patpat na panggatong. At, O hari, kapag ang naunang pag-asang iyon ay nabasag, ang Brāhmaṇa na nagliliyab sa galit ay kayang sunugin at gawing abo ang sinumang matitigan niya—gaya ng apoy na walang sawang tumutupok sa bunton ng tuyong damo o mga patpat.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
A ruler must be extremely careful about giving assurances to a Brahmin (and, by extension, to any worthy person). Creating hope and then breaking it is portrayed as a grave ethical failure that provokes destructive consequences—like fire once kindled.
Bhishma instructs the king using a vivid simile: a Brahmin, once encouraged by hope, becomes ‘kindled’; if that hope is thwarted, his anger becomes dangerously potent, capable of ‘burning’ the offender like an inexhaustible fire consuming dry fuel.