Ramayana — Yuddha Kanda, Sarga 20, Shloka 34
दूत-नीति, शुक-प्रसङ्गः
Envoy-Ethics and the Episode of Śuka
लुप्येतेमेबलात्पक्षौभिद्येतेमेतथाऽक्षिणी ।।।।यांचरात्रिंमरिष्यामिजायेरात्रिंचयामहम् ।एतस्मिन्नन्तरेकालेयन्मयाह्यशुभंकृतम् ।।।।सर्वंत्वमुपपद्येधाजह्यांचेद्यदिजीवितम् ।
lupyete me balāt pakṣau bhidyete me tathākṣiṇī |
yāṃ ca rātriṃ mariṣyāmi jāye rātriṃ ca yām aham |
etasminn antare kāle yan mayā hy aśubhaṃ kṛtam |
sarvaṃ tvam upapadyethāḥ jahyāṃ ced yadi jīvitam ||
“Nếu đôi cánh ta bị xé rách bởi sức mạnh, và đôi mắt ta cũng bị thương như vậy, thì từ đêm ta sinh ra cho đến đêm ta lìa đời—mọi điều bất tường ta đã làm trong khoảng thời gian ấy—nguyện ngươi gánh chịu tất cả, dẫu ta phải bỏ mạng.”
"O king! at once your spies should be deployed there and entrusted to have claims either by conciliation or creating differences."
FAQs
It points to the adharma of harming an envoy: Śuka frames the injury as a moral transgression with karmic consequence, reinforcing that even in war certain protections must be honored.
Śuka, seized by the Vānaras and threatened with injury, laments and pronounces that the doers will bear the sin of harming him across his whole lifespan.
By contrast, the virtue highlighted in the surrounding episode is restraint and adherence to rules of engagement—soon affirmed by Rāma’s order to release the envoy.