Shloka 33

कर्णनिधनवृत्तान्तनिवेदनम् | Reporting Karṇa’s Fall to Yudhiṣṭhira

Devanagari script

विवाहकाले रतिसम्प्रयोगे प्राणात्यये सर्वधनापहारे । विप्रस्य चार्थे हानृतं वदेत पज्चानृतान्याहुरपातकानि

Transliteration

vivāhakāle ratisamprayoge prāṇātyaye sarvadhanāpahāre | viprasya cārthe hānṛtaṃ vadet pañcānṛtāny āhur apātakāni ||

Translation

Śrī Kṛṣṇa sprach: „Zur Zeit der Eheschließung, im Zusammenhang der geschlechtlichen Vereinigung, wenn das Leben in Gefahr ist, wenn der gesamte Besitz geraubt wird, und wenn es zum Wohle eines Brāhmaṇa notwendig ist, darf man eine Unwahrheit sagen. Unwahrheiten, die in diesen fünf Fällen gesprochen werden, gelten als nicht sündhaft.“

Word by Word

• {'vivāha-kāla': 'time of marriage

• wedding occasion', 'rati-samprayoga': 'sexual union

• intimate intercourse', 'prāṇa-atyaya': 'peril to life

• threat of death', 'sarva-dhana-apahāra': 'seizure/abduction of all wealth

• total robbery', 'viprasya arthe': 'for the sake/benefit of a brāhmaṇa', 'hānṛtam': 'untruth

• false statement (lit. ‘not-truth’)', 'vadet': 'one should say/speak', 'pañca': 'five', 'anṛtāni': 'untruths

• falsehoods', 'āhuḥ': 'they say

• they declare', 'apātakāni': 'not a sin/offense

Speaker

श्रीकृष्ण उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Śrī Kṛṣṇa
• vipra (brāhmaṇa)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse teaches that truthfulness is a central norm, yet dharma recognizes rare emergency or socially protected contexts where speaking an untruth may be ethically permitted and treated as non-sinful—especially to prevent grave harm (loss of life or total ruin) or to secure a brāhmaṇa’s welfare.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Karṇa Parva, amid the moral strain of the Kurukṣetra war, Śrī Kṛṣṇa articulates a principle of situational ethics (āpaddharma), clarifying that rigid adherence to literal truth can be overridden in specific circumstances to protect higher values such as life, social order, and urgent welfare.