Shloka 21
Prāyaścitta and Contextual Non-Culpability (प्रायश्चित्त-निमित्त-अदोषवाद)
कर्मभ्यो विप्रमुच्यन्ते यत्ता: संवत्सरं स्त्रिय:
karmabhyo vipramucyante yattāḥ saṁvatsaraṁ striyaḥ | mitāhāra-saṁyamopetāḥ pāpakarmabhya eva ca || mahāvrataṁ yo ’nutiṣṭhet māsaṁ toyavivarjitam | brāhmaṇebhyaḥ sarvasvaṁ yo nivedayati bhaktitaḥ || guror arthe raṇe hanyāt sa pāpabandhanāt pramucyate ||
Vyāsa sprach: „Frauen, die ein volles Jahr in disziplinierter Enthaltsamkeit und mit maßvoller Nahrung leben, werden von den Folgen sündhafter Taten befreit. Ebenso wird, wer das große Gelübde auf sich nimmt—einen Monat lang auf Wasser zu verzichten—wer in Hingabe all seinen Besitz den Brāhmaṇas übergibt, oder wer im Kampf um seines Lehrers willen fällt, von den bindenden Fesseln unheilvoller Werke erlöst.“
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that karmic bondage from wrongdoing can be loosened through disciplined self-restraint (tapas and saṁyama), generous self-surrender through charity (dāna), and self-sacrifice grounded in loyalty to one’s teacher (guru-bhakti), each framed as a potent means of purification and release from aśubha/pāpa.
In Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma and purification, Vyāsa enumerates recognized paths of expiation: a year of restrained living for women, the performance of a severe vow (mahāvrata), total donation to Brāhmaṇas, and being slain in battle for the guru—each presented as leading to freedom from the bonds of sinful action.