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Saturday, November 30, 2019

न भीतो मरणादस्मि केवलं दूषितं यशः

na bhiitO maraNaad asmi kevalam duushitam yashaha
vishuddhasya hi mE mrityuhu putrajanma samaha kila

न भीतो मरणादस्मि केवलं दूषितं यशः।
विशुद्धस्य हि मे मृत्युः पुत्रजन्मसमः किल ॥
alternate ending पुत्रजन्मसमो भवेत् 

'मैं मृत्यु से नहीं डरता; मुझे यही दुःख है कि मेरी कीर्ति कलंकित हो गई। यदि कीर्ति शुद्ध रहे और मृत्यु भी आ जाए, तो मैं उसको पुत्र जन्म के  उत्सव के समान मानूंगा।' किल or  kila means certainly.

I do not fear death, merely fear the besmirching of my good name
Even if I die while upholding my reputation, it would certainly be equivalent in elation to the birth of a son

The first line of this shloka was used (albeit erroneously) by Atal Behari Vajpayee in his speech on the floor of Parliament during the floor test. He had wrongly attributed it to Rama.

This is actually said by Charudatta in Shudraka's famous play Mricchakatika (10.27). He says it to the  ChaanDaal. 

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