Shloka 44
तस्माच्छिरश्छिन्धि ममेदमद्य कुलान्तकस्याधमपूरुषस्य । पापस्य पापव्यसनान्वितस्य विमूढबुद्धेरलसस्य भीरो:,“कुन्तीनन्दन! अवश्य ही मैंने अच्छा कर्म नहीं किया है, जिससे तुमलोगोंपर अत्यन्त भयंकर संकट आ पड़ा है। मैं कुलान्तकारी नराधम पापी, पापमय दुर्व्यसनमें आसक्त, मूढ़बुद्धि, आलसी और डरपोक हूँ; इसलिये आज तुम मेरा यह मस्तक काट डालो
tasmāc chiraś chindhi mamedaṁ adya kulāntakasyādhamapuruṣasya | pāpasya pāpavyasanānvitasyā vimūḍhabuddher alasasya bhīroḥ ||
Sañjaya said: “Therefore, cut off my head today—mine, the head of a wretch who brings ruin upon his own lineage: a vile man, sinful, addicted to sinful vices, of deluded understanding, indolent, and cowardly.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse dramatizes moral accountability: when one recognizes that negligence, delusion, and vice contribute to collective ruin, the appropriate response is remorse and willingness to accept consequences—though the extreme rhetoric of self-punishment also shows how guilt can become self-destructive.
Sañjaya reports a moment of intense self-reproach in the war narrative, where a speaker (as framed by Sañjaya’s narration) denounces himself as a lineage-ruiner and sinner and calls for his head to be cut off, expressing despair and responsibility for the calamity befalling the Kuru house.