Shloka 39

Adhyāya 166: Kṛtaghna-doṣa (कृतघ्नदोषः) — the fault of ingratitude and the limits of expiation

Devanagari script

अन्न वीर्य ग्रहीतव्यं प्रेतकर्मण्यपातिते । त्रिषु त्वेतेषु पूर्वेषु न कुर्वीत विचारणाम्‌

Transliteration

anna vīrya grahītavyaṃ pretakarmaṇy apātite | triṣu tv eteṣu pūrveṣu na kurvīta vicāraṇām |

Translation

Bhishma said: “When the funerary rites have not been performed, the family members should nonetheless take possession of the deceased person’s food-grain and wealth. In the case of the three previously mentioned sinners—the drunkard, the slayer of a Brahmin, and the violator of the guru’s wife—one should not entertain any further deliberation on the matter.”

Word by Word

• {'anna': 'food, grain

• sustenance', 'vīrya': 'strength

• here used in the sense of wealth/resources (often paired with anna as means of livelihood)', 'grahītavyam': 'should be taken/appropriated

• ought to be accepted as one’s due', 'pretakarmaṇi': 'in the rites for the departed (funerary/obsequial rites)', 'apātite': 'not performed

• not carried out', 'triṣu': 'in/among three', 'eteṣu': 'among these', 'pūrveṣu': 'previously mentioned

• earlier stated', 'na kurvīta': 'one should not do', 'vicāraṇām': 'deliberation, reconsideration, doubt', 'śarābī': 'drunkard (habitual drinker of intoxicants)', 'brahmahatyāra': 'slayer of a Brahmin

• perpetrator of brahma-hatyā', 'gurupatnīgāmī': 'one who has relations with the guru’s wife

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma
• family members (kuṭumbinaḥ/kuṭumbijana)
• the deceased (preta)
• the drunkard (śarābī)
• the slayer of a Brahmin (brahmahatyāra)
• the violator of the guru’s wife (gurupatnīgāmī)
• funerary rites (pretakarma)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

For certain grave sinners previously listed (drunkard, Brahmin-slayer, and violator of the guru’s wife), normal post-death considerations are curtailed: even if funerary rites are not performed, the household may take over the deceased’s provisions and wealth, and one should not hesitate or reopen the question.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Shanti Parva’s dharma instruction, Bhishma is laying down a rule about how a family should act when a person of extreme sin dies—specifically regarding whether to perform obsequial rites and how to handle the deceased’s property and sustenance.