Shloka 33
कर्णपरर्वणि त्रयोचत्वारिंशदध्यायः (Karṇa-parva Adhyāya 43) — Kṛṣṇa’s Battlefield Assessment and the Reversal Around Bhīma
आरट्टा नाम ते देशा नष्टधर्मा न तान् व्रजेत् । “जहाँ शतद्रु (सतलज), विपाशा (व्यास), तीसरी इरावती (रावी), चन्द्रभागा (चिनाव) और वितस्ता (झेलम)--ये पाँच नदियाँ छठी सिंधु नदीके साथ बहती हैं, जहाँ पीलु नामक वृक्षोंक कई जंगल हैं, वे हिमालयकी सीमासे बाहरके प्रदेश “आरट्ट” नामसे विख्यात हैं। वहाँका धर्म-कर्म नष्ट हो गया है। उन देशोंमें कभी न जाय ।। व्रात्यानां दासमीयानां वाहीकानामयज्वनाम्,“जिनके धर्म-कर्म नष्ट हो गये हैं, वे संस्कारहीन, जारज बाहीक यज्ञ-कर्मसे रहित होते हैं। उनके दिये हुए द्रव्यको देवता, पितर और ब्राह्मण भी नहीं ग्रहण करते हैं, यह बात सुननेमें आयी है”
ārāṭṭā nāma te deśā naṣṭa-dharmā na tān vrajet | vrātyānāṁ dāsamīyānāṁ vāhīkānām ayajvanām |
Karna said: “Those regions are called Ārāṭṭa; their dharma has fallen into ruin—one should not go to them. The Vāhīkas there are said to be vrātyas (outside Vedic discipline), of servile conduct, and non-sacrificers; it is heard that even gods, ancestors, and Brahmins do not accept what is given by them.”
कर्ण उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames dharma as a communal standard maintained through Vedic rites and ethical conduct; it warns against association with places portrayed as having abandoned that order, emphasizing the epic’s concern with ritual-ethical legitimacy and social norms.
In Karṇa’s speech during the Karṇa Parva, he denounces certain northwestern regions/peoples (Ārāṭṭa, Vāhīka) as ‘fallen from dharma’ and ‘non-sacrificers,’ using cultural-religious critique as part of his broader rhetoric in the war context.