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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.39.7

Araṇya Kāṇḍa, sarga 39: Mārīca’s final warning. He condemns advisers who fail to restrain a destructive ruler and predicts that the abduction will kill them both and ruin Laṅkā

In the sequence: he condemns ministers who fail to restrain a ruler on a destructive course, because the ruler's failure ruins everyone dependent on him

3.39.7

amātyaiḥ kāmavṛtto hi rājā kāpatham āśritaḥ
nigrāhyaḥ sarvathā sadbhir na nigrāhyo nigṛhyase

For a self-willed king who has taken to an evil road ought by all means to be restrained by good ministers; but you, though deserving restraint, go unrestrained.

Words: amātyaiḥ — by ministers; kāmavṛtto — self-willed; hi — for; rājā — king; kāpatham — an evil path; āśritaḥ — having resorted to; nigrāhyaḥ — to be restrained; sarvathā — by all means; sadbhir — by the good; na nigrāhyo — (you) not to be restrained; nigṛhyase — you are (not) restrained

Composed by Maharṣi Vālmīki, the ādikavi of the ādikāvya: the first poet of the first poem. Sanskrit: The Vālmīki-Rāmāyaṇa: Critical Edition, Oriental Institute, Baroda, 1960–1975 (gen. eds. G. H. Bhatt, U. P. Shah); IAST from GRETIL (Göttingen). Translation and word glosses: Claude Opus 4.6–4.7; summaries and sequences: ChatGPT Astra (machine-made). Numbering follows the Critical Edition, not the vulgate (e.g. Gita Press, valmikiramayan.net), so sarga and verse numbers can differ from those editions.