Shloka 43
Prāyaścitta and Contextual Non-Culpability (प्रायश्चित्त-निमित्त-अदोषवाद)
अनुरूपं हि पापस्य प्रायश्ित्तमुदाह्तम् । महापातकवर्ज तु प्रायश्षित्तं विधीयते
anurūpaṃ hi pāpasya prāyaścittam udāhṛtam | mahāpātaka-varjaṃ tu prāyaścittaṃ vidhīyate ||
Vyāsa sprach: „Ich habe Sühnen (prāyaścitta) dargelegt, die dem jeweiligen Vergehen entsprechen. Doch solche vorgeschriebene Sühne ist nur für Sünden bestimmt, die nicht zu den großen, todbringenden Übertretungen (mahāpātaka) zählen.“
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
Expiation should be proportionate to the wrongdoing, but the standard scheme of prāyaścitta is primarily meant for lesser sins; the gravest transgressions (mahāpātakas) are treated as exceptional and not covered by ordinary atonements.
In the didactic discourse of Śānti Parva, Vyāsa is clarifying the scope of the expiatory rules he has just described, distinguishing ordinary sins from the category of mahāpātakas.