Shloka 21

Devanagari script

“स्त्रियाँ अपने योनिदोषजनित पाप (व्यभिचार)-से राक्षसी हो जाती हैं। इसी प्रकार क्षत्रिय, वैश्य और शूद्वरोंमेंसे जो लोग ब्राह्मणोंसे द्वेष करते हैं, वे भी इस जगत्‌में राक्षस होते हैं

Transliteration

striyaḥ sva-yoni-doṣa-janita-pāpena (vyabhicāreṇa) rākṣasī-bhavanti | evaṃ kṣatriya-vaiśya-śūdreṣu ye brāhmaṇa-dveṣiṇaḥ, te 'pi asmin jagati rākṣasā bhavanti ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana said: “Women, through sin arising from faults of the womb—namely adultery—become ‘rākṣasī-like’ in nature. In the same way, among kṣatriyas, vaiśyas, and śūdras, those who bear hatred toward brāhmaṇas are also, in this world, to be regarded as rākṣasas.”

Word by Word

स्त्रियःwomen

स्वयोनिदोषजनितपापात्from sin arising from the fault of their own womb (i.e., sexual misconduct)

राक्षस्यःshe-demons / rākṣasīs

भवन्तिbecome

एवम्thus / likewise

क्षत्रियवैश्यशूद्रेषुamong Kṣatriyas, Vaiśyas, and Śūdras

येwho

ब्राह्मणद्वेषिणःhating Brāhmaṇas

तेthey

अपिalso

अस्मिन्in this

लोकेworld

राक्षसाःdemons / rākṣasas

भवन्तिbecome

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

striyaḥ (women)

kṣatriya

vaiśya

śūdra

brāhmaṇa

rākṣasī/rākṣasa

jagat (the world)

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames certain actions and attitudes as spiritually and socially destructive: sexual transgression (vyabhicāra) and, especially, hatred toward brāhmaṇas (brāhmaṇa-dveṣa). Such conduct is said to make a person ‘rākṣasa-like’—i.e., aligned with cruelty, disorder, and adharma—within the moral universe of the epic.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana, the narrator, delivers a moral characterization while recounting events in the Śalya Parva. He pauses the story to state a general ethical judgment: those who commit adultery or who hate brāhmaṇas are to be regarded as rākṣasas in this world, reinforcing the epic’s concern with dharma and social-religious norms.