Shloka 4
Adhyāya 33 — Yudhiṣṭhira’s Post-Conflict Remorse and Inquiry on Āśrama Discipline (शोक-विमर्शः, आश्रम-जिज्ञासा)
तांस्तादृशानहं हत्वा धर्मनित्यान् महीक्षित: । असकृत् सोमपान् वीरान् किं प्राप्स्पामि तपोधन
tāṁs tādṛśān ahaṁ hatvā dharmanityān mahīkṣitaḥ | asakṛt somapān vīrān kiṁ prāpsyāmi tapodhana tapodhana ||
Yudhiṣṭhira sprach: „Nachdem ich solche Könige erschlagen habe — Helden, stets standhaft in der Dharma, die wieder und wieder am Soma-Ritus teilgenommen und Soma getrunken hatten — welche Frucht werde ich erlangen, o Schatz der Askese? Welche Belohnung könnte mir zuteilwerden?“
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even when violence is sanctioned by kṣatriya-duty, the moral weight of killing the righteous remains; Yudhiṣṭhira questions what true ‘fruit’ can arise from an act that feels ethically tainted, highlighting the tension between prescribed duty and inner conscience.
In the aftermath of the great war, Yudhiṣṭhira speaks to an ascetic (addressed as tapodhana), lamenting that he has killed kings who were devoted to dharma and accomplished in Vedic sacrifice (Soma rites), and he asks what benefit or outcome he can possibly gain from such slaughter.