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 ||
毗湿摩说道：“大地之主啊！当先给婆罗门以希望时，他便如添薪之火般炽然奋起。然则，国王啊，当那先前生起的希望被打碎，婆罗门怒焰腾腾，目光所及之人，皆可焚为灰烬——正如贪噬不息之火烧尽一堆枯草或干柴。”
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.