Shloka 26

जनक-राज्ञः मौण्ड्य-परिव्रज्या-विवादः

Janaka’s Renunciation Questioned; Discourse on Dāna and Detachment

Devanagari script

“सदा ही याचना करनेवालेको और दम्भीको दी हुई दक्षिणा दावानलमें दी गयी आहुतिके समान व्यर्थ है ।।

Transliteration

jātavedā yathā rājan nādagdhvaivopaśāmyati | sadaiva yācamāno hi tathā śāmyati na dvijaḥ ||

Translation

大王啊，正如火焰不先吞噬薪柴便不会熄灭，同样，那永远在乞求的婆罗门，只要不断求索的习气仍在，便不能获得内心的寂静。把布施（dakṣiṇā）给那屡屡纠缠、又虚伪矫饰之人，譬如将供献投入山林大火之中——徒然浪费，不能结成善果。

Word by Word

• जातवेदा: Jātavedas (Agni, the fire-god)
• जातवेदा: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: जातवेदस्
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• यथा: just as
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: यथा

• राजन्: O king
• Type: Noun
• Root: राजन्
• Form: Masculine, Vocative, Singular

• न: not
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: न

• अदग्ध्वा: without burning (having not burned)
• Type: Verb
• Root: दह्
• Form: Absolutive (ktvā), Parasmaipada (usage)

• एव: indeed/only
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: एव

• उपशाम्यति: subsides, becomes calm, is extinguished
• Type: Verb
• Root: शम् (उप-शम्)
• Form: Present, Indicative, Parasmaipada, Third, Singular

• सदैव: always
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: सदा + एव

• याचमानः: begging, requesting
• याचमानः: Karta
• Type: Verb
• Root: याच्
• Form: Present active participle (śatṛ), Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• हि: indeed/for
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: हि

• तथा: so, in the same way
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तथा

• शाम्यति: becomes calm, is appeased
• Type: Verb
• Root: शम्
• Form: Present, Indicative, Parasmaipada, Third, Singular

• न: not
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: न

• द्विजः: a twice-born (Brahmin)
• द्विजः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: द्विज
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

Speaker

अजुन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• rājan (the king addressed)
• jātavedāḥ (Agni/fire)
• dvija (brahmin/twice-born)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse warns that habitual, insatiable begging prevents inner peace, and that gifts given to the perpetually importunate and hypocritical are ethically unfruitful—like offerings thrown into a wildfire.

What is happening in the narrative?

A speaker addresses a king and uses the image of fire needing fuel to illustrate a moral point about recipients of charity: a person who constantly solicits does not become content, so indiscriminate giving to such a person is portrayed as wasted.