भज्यते भुवि मर्यादा झटित्येव दिनं प्रति । शुष्केव माषशिम्बीका टङ्कारकरवं विना ॥ ४ ॥
bhajyatē bhuvi maryādā jhaṭityēva dinaṁ prati | śuṣkēva māṣaśimbīkā ṭaṅkārakaravaṁ vinā || 4 ||
Translation
Day after day, on earth, the bounds of right give way all at once, like a dry bean pod, but without the crack.
Word by word
- bhajyatē
- give way
- bhuvi
- on earth
- maryādā
- the bounds of right
- jhaṭiti
- all at once
- ēva
- even
- dinaṁ
- day
- prati
- after day
- śuṣkā
- dry
- iva
- like
- māṣa
- bean
- śimbīkā
- a pod
- ṭaṅkāra
- crack
- ravaṁ
- the sound
- vinā
- without
Meaning
A dry pod of black gram (māṣa) splits with a sharp crack. The bounds of right conduct (maryādā), the limits a decent person and a decent society keep, split just as quickly, the commentary says, with one difference: no sound is heard. That is the danger in the image. A limit that broke with a crack would warn us; the limits that matter break silently, one evening, in one small decision, and the next day it is as if they had never been. Rāma sees this around him, and the reader may see it within: the line once kept, now crossed without noticing that it was ever a line.