अद्य प्रभृति सर्वेषु वृष्ण्यन्धकगृहेष्व् इह ॥
सुरासवो न कर्तव्यः सर्वैर् नगरवासिभिः ॥
यश् च नो ऽविदितं कुर्यात् पेयं कश् चिन् नरः क्व चित् ॥
जीवन् स शूलम् आरोहेत् स्वयं कृत्वा सबान्धवः ॥
ततो राजभयात् सर्वे नियमं चक्रिरे तदा ॥
नराः शासनम् आज्ञाय तस्य राज्ञो महात्मनः ॥
adya prabhṛti sarveṣu vṛṣṇyandhakagṛheṣv iha ||
surāsavo na kartavyaḥ sarvair nagaravāsibhiḥ ||
yaś ca no 'viditaṃ kuryāt peyaṃ kaś cin naraḥ kva cit ||
jīvan sa śūlam ārohet svayaṃ kṛtvā sabāndhavaḥ ||
tato rājabhayāt sarve niyamaṃ cakrire tadā ||
narāḥ śāsanam ājñāya tasya rājño mahātmanaḥ ||
'Henceforth in all the houses of the Vrishnis and Andhakas here, no intoxicating drink or fermented liquor shall be prepared by any of the city's inhabitants. And whosoever, any man anywhere, shall without our knowledge prepare any intoxicating drink — let that one be impaled alive upon a stake, which he shall himself erect, together with his kinsmen.' Then, out of fear of the king, all men observed restraint, having learned the command of that great-souled king.
59918b05012d · published Jun 21, 2026, 1:05:00 AM UTC
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The king, foreseeing that destruction will come through the fury of intoxication, forbids all intoxicating drink throughout the clan under pain of terrible punishment. This prohibition is wise and just, for wine inflames enmity and clouds the mind, preparing the ground for fratricide. Yet even it, observed only 'out of fear of the king' and not from inner purity, will not save the doomed: where hearts have not changed, the law too is powerless. The verse teaches that intoxication is the root of strife and ruin, and abstinence from it is the counsel of wisdom; but that a prohibition observed from fear alone, and not from purity of heart, does not protect against calamity, for true protection lies not in external law but in the restraint of passions from within — which the doomed clan no longer possessed.