Shloka 38
Adhyāya 33 — Yudhiṣṭhira’s Post-Conflict Remorse and Inquiry on Āśrama Discipline (शोक-विमर्शः, आश्रम-जिज्ञासा)
अश्वमेधो महायज्ञ: प्रायश्षित्तमुदाह्मतम् । तमाहर महाराज विपाप्मैवं भविष्यसि
aśvamedho mahāyajñaḥ prāyaścittam udāhṛtam | tam āhara mahārāja vipāpmā evaṁ bhaviṣyasi ||
Vyāsa sprach: „Das Aśvamedha, das große Opfer, ist als Sühne verkündet worden. Darum vollziehe es, o großer König; durch die Ausführung dieses Ritus wirst du von Sünde frei werden.“
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
Serious moral and ritual impurity can require formal prāyaścitta; here Vyāsa presents the Aśvamedha as a royal expiation that restores the king to purity and dharmic standing.
In Śānti Parva’s post-war setting, Vyāsa addresses a king burdened by sin or remorse and instructs him to perform the Aśvamedha sacrifice as the prescribed means of purification.