Shloka 14

Devanagari script

अत्र दुष्कृतकर्माणो नरा: पच्यन्ति गालव । अत्र वैतरणी नाम नदी वितरणैर्वृता,गालव! इसी दिशामें पापाचारी मनुष्य नरकोंकी आगमें पकाये जाते हैं। दक्षिणमें ही वह वैतरणी नदी है, जो वैतरणी नरकके अधिकारी पापियोंसे घिरी रहती है

Transliteration

atra duṣkṛtakarmāṇo narāḥ pacyante gālava | atra vaitaraṇī nāma nadī vitaraṇair vṛtā ||

Translation

Hier, o Gālava, werden Menschen mit bösen Taten in Qualen „gekocht“. Hier ist auch der Fluss namens Vaitaraṇī, umringt von den Sündern, die jenem Höllenlos bestimmt sind — eine furchtbare Grenze der Vergeltung.

Word by Word

अत्रhere

दुष्कृतकर्माणःevil-doers (those of wicked deeds)

नराःmen

पच्यन्तिare cooked / suffer (torment)

गालवO Gālava

अत्रhere

वैतरणीVaitaraṇī (name of a river)

नामby name / called

नदीriver

वितरणैःwith distributions / with gifts (as means)

वृताsurrounded / enclosed

गालवO Gālava

Speaker

युपर्ण उवाच

Characters & Entities

Gālava

Vaitaraṇī (river)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse teaches karmic moral causality: harmful, unrighteous actions (duṣkṛta-karma) mature into suffering, depicted vividly as hellfire and the infernal river Vaitaraṇī. Ethical conduct is thus not merely social but cosmically consequential.

What is happening in the narrative?

Yūparṇa addresses Gālava, pointing out a region associated with the southern direction and hells, where sinners are punished and where the river Vaitaraṇī lies, surrounded by those destined for that infernal passage—an illustrative tour of the consequences of wrongdoing.