मृग उवाच
न रिपून् वै समुद्दिश्य विमुञ्चन्ति पुरा शरान् ॥
रन्ध्र एषां विशेषेण वधकालः प्रशस्यते ॥
पाण्डुर् उवाच
प्रमत्तम् अप्रमत्तं वा विवृतं घ्नन्ति चौजसा ॥
उपायैर् इषुभिस् तीक्ष्णैः कस्मान् मृग विगर्हसे ॥
mṛga uvāca
na ripūn vai samuddiśya vimuñcanti purā śarān ||
randhra eṣāṃ viśeṣeṇa vadhakālaḥ praśasyate ||
pāṇḍur uvāca
pramattam apramattaṃ vā vivṛtaṃ ghnanti caujasā ||
upāyair iṣubhis tīkṣṇaiḥ kasmān mṛga vigarhase ||
The deer said: 'Even against enemies arrows were not loosed before they had made ready; is it truly praiseworthy to strike them down precisely at a vulnerable moment?' Pandu said: 'The careless or the vigilant, the exposed one — they are struck down by force, by stratagems and sharp arrows; for what then, O deer, do you reproach me?'
f32f14a36449 · प्रकाशित 12 जुल॰ 2026, 4:30:27 pm UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
Here the dispute sharpens to its very core: is it permitted to strike down the defenseless? Notable is the sage's objection: even in war there is a measure — one does not strike an enemy who has not yet made himself ready. Notable, too, is Pandu's persistence, invoking the rough practice of hunting, where any quarry is struck by any means. Here is a clash of two truths: military expediency and chivalrous compassion. The scripture, without rejecting the dharma of the kshatriya, nonetheless inclines toward the higher truth: true nobility knows measure even where strength permits everything. Thus the sage's decisive argument is being prepared — not about the deer in general, but about the sacred inviolability of a being in the moment of love.