Aranya Kanda, Sarga 33

Meaning

Getting highly enraged, the afflicted Śūrpaṇakhā then addressed the following harsh words to Rāvaṇa, who made people cry by his tyranny and oppression, in the midst of his ministers : (1)

Meaning

“Being strongly attached to sense-enjoyments, licentious and unbridled, you do not perceive the frightful danger that has cropped up and which ought to be perceived. (2)

Meaning

“The people do not hold in high esteem a rapacious monarch attached to vulgar sense-enjoyments and acting according to his will, any more than the fire in a crematorium. (3)

Meaning

“That monarch who does not personally attend to his affairs gets ruined without doubt alongwith his kingdom as well as those affairs. (4)

Meaning

“People shun from a distance the king who has not appointed spies, is difficult to behold for his subjects and is not self-dependent, even as elephants shun the mud in a river. (5)

Meaning

“Those rulers of men who do not reclaim a territory which is no longer under their control, do not shine through prosperity any more than mountains submerged in an ocean. (6)

Meaning

“Having entered into a conflict with gods, Gandharvas and demons, who are masters of their self and having not appointed spies, how can you hope to continue as a king, fickle as you are? (7)

Meaning

“You are undoubtedly childish of disposition and devoid of intelligence and do not know what ought to be known, O ogre ! How then will you continue to be a king? (8)

Meaning

“Those rulers of men whose spies and coffers and policy too are not under their control, O jewel among the victorious, are as good as laymen. (9)

Meaning

“Because rulers of men are able to perceive all remote things through their spies, hence they are called far-sighted. (10)

Meaning

“I firmly believe, you have not appointed spies in your kingdom, inasmuch as you being assisted by untutored counsellors do not know of your own people having been killed and the area inhabited by them devastated. (11)

Meaning

“Fourteen thousand ogres of terrible deeds as also Khara with Dūṣaṇa have been made short work of by Rāma single-handed. (12)

Meaning

“An assurance of safety has been vouchsafed to Ṛṣis (the seers of Vedic Mantras), the forest of Daṇḍaka has been rendered secure for them and Janasthāna devastated by Rāma of unwearied action.(13)

Meaning

“You, on the other hand, are avaricious, careless and a slave of passion inasmuch as you do not perceive the danger that has cropped up in your own territory, O ogre ! (14)

Meaning

“All beings decline to rush in succour of a monarch in distress who is severe, niggardly, careless, proud and deceitful. (15)

Meaning

“Even his own people kill in adversity a man or a ruler of men excessively vain, worth disowning and egotistic. (16)

Meaning

“A king who does not perform his duties and is not apprehensive even in the face of dangers is soon deprived of his kingdom and reduced to a wretched condition, and becomes of no more worth than straw in this world. (17)

Meaning

“Some purpose may be served by dry pieces of wood, even clods and dust, but no purpose can be served by monarchs fallen from their position. (18)

Meaning

“Just as a used garment or a squeezed garland becomes useless for others, so even a powerful king deprived of his kingdom becomes useless. (19)

Meaning

“That king who is vigilant, knows everything about himself and his enemy, whose senses are fully controlled, who recognizes the services of others, and is pious by disposition continues on his throne for long. (20)

Meaning

“That king who, though fast asleep with his eyes closed remains awake with his eye of prudence wide open and whose frown and favour are manifest in the form of punishment and reward is honoured by the people. (21)

Meaning

“You, however, O Rāvaṇa, are silly and utterly destitute of all these virtues inasmuch as the great slaughter of ogres has remained unknown to your spies. (22)

Meaning

“Showing disrespect to others, full of attachment to the pleasures of sense, not knowing in reality the right division of time and place, and having never applied your mind to the task of determining the merits and demerits of a thing or proposition, you will find your sovereignty endangered and perish soon.” (23)

Meaning

Examining with his mind his own weaknesses recounted by her, the celebrated Rāvaṇa, the lord of night-stalkers, possessed as he was of opulence, vanity and might, reflected for long. (24)