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Mahabharata 12.91.32

Mahābhārata 12.91.32

Language
Sanskrit

12.91.32

ete cānye ca jāyante yadā rājā pramādyati |
tasmādrājñā viśeṣeṇa vartitavyaṃ prajāhite || 32 ||

Abstain from companionship with him that is intoxicated (with pride), him that is heedless (of the dictates of honesty), him that is scoffer of religion, him that is insensate, and forbear to pay court to all of them when united. Keep thy self aloof from the company of ministers whom thou hast once punished and especially of women, as also from mountains and uneven lands and inaccessible fastnesses and elephants and horses and (noxious) reptiles. Thou shouldst also give up wandering in the night, and avoid the faults of stinginess and vanity and boastfulness and wrath. Thou shouldst never have intercourse with unknown women, or those of equivocal sex, or those that are lewd, or those that are the wives of other men, or those that are virgins. When the king does not restrain vice, a confusion of castes follows, and sinful Rakshasas, and persons of neutral sex, and children destitute of limbs or possessed of thick tongues, and idiots, begin to take birth in even respectable families. Therefore, the king should take particular care to act righteously, for the benefit of his subjects. If a king acts heedlessly, a great evil becomes the consequence. Unrighteousness increases causing a confusion of castes. Cold sets in during the summer months, and disappears when its proper season comes. Drought and flood and pestilence afflict the people. Ominous stars arise and awful comets appear on such occasions.

Kisari Mohan Ganguli 1883, The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa

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Commentaries (5)

Other recensions (2)