Shloka 32

Devanagari script

मित्रद्रुह: कृतघ्नस्य स्त्रीघ्नस्य गुरुघातिन: । चतुर्णा वयमेतेषां निष्कृतिं नानुशुश्रुम

Transliteration

mitradruhaḥ kṛtaghnasya strīghnasya gurughātinaḥ | caturṇāṁ vayam eteṣāṁ niṣkṛtiṁ nānuśuśruma ||

Translation

Bhishma sprach: Für den Verräter eines Freundes, für den Undankbaren, für den Mörder einer Frau und für den Töter eines Lehrers—für diese vier haben wir von keiner Sühne gehört, die die Schuld wahrhaft tilgt.

Word by Word

मित्रद्रुहःof a betrayer of a friend

कृतघ्नस्यof an ungrateful person

स्त्रीघ्नस्यof a killer of a woman

गुरुघातिनःof a slayer of a teacher/elder

चतुर्णाम्of (these) four

वयम्we

एतेषाम्of these

निष्कृतिम्expiation, atonement

नnot

अनुशुश्रुमwe have heard

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhīṣma

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Bhīṣma teaches that betrayal of friendship, ingratitude, killing a woman, and killing one’s guru are regarded as exceptionally grave violations of dharma, for which tradition does not recognize a reliable expiation; the emphasis is on prevention and the near-irreparability of such moral rupture.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma and conduct, Bhīṣma is advising Yudhiṣṭhira about the hierarchy of sins and the limits of ritual or penitential remedies, highlighting four offenses treated as beyond ordinary atonement.