Verse 7.143

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

विक्रोशन्त्यो यस्य राष्ट्राद् ह्रियन्ते दस्युभिः प्रजाः ।
सम्पश्यतः सभृत्यस्य मृतः स न तु जीवति ॥ १४३ ॥

vikrośantyo yasya rāṣṭrād hriyante dasyubhiḥ prajāḥ |
sampaśyataḥ sabhṛtyasya mṛtaḥ sa na tu jīvati || 143 ||

He, from whose territories people are carried off, screaming, by robbers, while he himself, along with his servants is looking on, is dead, not alive.—(143)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

This text describes the evil arising from neglecting the watchfulness laid down in the preceding verse.

If the king is not awake to the necessity of establishing outposts, then his subjects are carried off by robbers, who are ever on the look out for such loopholes; and what can the King do for the subjects? Such a King would be as good as dead. His very living is death itself. For this reason the King should be ever watchful.

‘Screaming’— crying —‘are carried away’;—‘while, along with his servants the King is looking on.’ The evil is bound, under the circumstances, to be simply looked upon helplessly; the King’s servants can only look on, they cannot chase the robbers and free the people from their clutches; all these are as good as dead.

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Vivādaratnākara (p. 294), which explains ‘hriyante’ as ‘are robbed’; and adds that the Genitive in ‘sampaśyataḥ’ denotes disregard.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Mahābhārata (13.61.31).—‘A king in whose kingdom women are taken away by force, while their husbands and sons are crying for help, is really dead; he is not alive.’

Āpastamba (Vivādaratnākara, p. 294).—‘That king is said to he the ordainer of security in whose kingdom there is no fear of thieves, either in villages or in forests.’

Hārīta (Do.).—‘If wicked robbers prosper in the kingdom of a king, the sin being very much enhanced cuts off the very roots of that king.’