Shloka 27
पितृहन्तृनहं हत्वा पज्चालान् निशि सौप्तिके । काम॑ कीट: पतड़ो वा जन्म प्राप्प भवामि वै
pitṛhantṝn ahaṃ hatvā pāñcālān niśi sauptike | kāmaṃ kīṭaḥ pataṅgo vā janma prāpya bhavāmi vai ||
Kṛpa said: “Having slain the Pāñcālas—those who killed my father—at night while they lie asleep, I accept whatever consequence may follow. Even if, in another birth, I must become a worm or a moth, so be it.”
कृप उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the tension between personal vengeance and ethical restraint: Kṛpa frames the killing as retribution for his father’s death and declares willingness to bear severe karmic fallout (even a low rebirth), underscoring how revenge can override concern for moral consequence while still acknowledging that consequence exists.
In the Sauptika episode, the surviving Kaurava-side warriors contemplate or justify a nocturnal attack on the sleeping Pāñcālas. Here Kṛpa states that killing them in their sleep—because they are ‘father-slayers’—is worth any personal afterlife penalty.