वरं शरावहस्तस्य चाण्डालागारवीथिषु । भिक्षार्थमटनं राम न मौर्ख्यहतजीवितम् ॥ १७ ॥
varaṁ śarāvahastasya cāṇḍālāgāravīthiṣu | bhikṣārthamaṭanaṁ rāma na maurkhyahatajīvitam || 17 ||
Translation
Better, Rāma, to go begging with a clay bowl in hand through the lanes of the outcastes' dwellings than a life struck down by folly.
Word by word
- varaṁ
- better
- śarāva
- a clay bowl
- hastasya
- in hand
- cāṇḍāla
- of the outcastes'
- āgāra
- dwellings
- vīthiṣu
- through the lanes
- bhikṣā
- begging
- artham
- for
- aṭanaṁ
- to go
- rāma
- Rāma
- na
- not
- maurkhya
- by folly
- hata
- struck down
- jīvitam
- a life
Meaning
The verse speaks in the terms of its own society, and picks the lowest condition that a prince of that world could imagine for himself. The word it uses for those who lived in such lanes was a word of exclusion, and is given here because the text has it. The point of the verse is the comparison. All that a man can lose in rank, Vasiṣṭha says, weighs less than a life lived without understanding. Said to a future king, this is a real reversal of values.