Shloka 47
Adhyāya 166: Kṛtaghna-doṣa (कृतघ्नदोषः) — the fault of ingratitude and the limits of expiation
सुरापो वारुणीमुष्णां पीत्वा पापाद् विमुच्यते
bhīṣma uvāca | surāpo vāruṇīm uṣṇāṃ pītvā pāpād vimucyate |
Bhīṣma said: “A person who has committed the fault of drinking liquor is said to be released from sin by drinking vāruṇī (a kind of intoxicant) heated to scalding. The idea is that severe bodily suffering—or even death caused by burning—functions as an expiation; only after such purification is he considered fit to attain pure worlds, not otherwise.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents a harsh prāyaścitta (expiation) for the sin of drinking liquor: intense physical suffering (symbolized by drinking scalding vāruṇī, even to the point of death) is portrayed as a means of purification, after which one becomes eligible for ‘pure worlds’; without expiation, one is not.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma, Bhishma is teaching Yudhiṣṭhira about rules of conduct and expiations. Here he cites a specific expiatory rule concerning the liquor-drinker and the conditions under which purification is considered complete.