Shloka 26
राजन! ब्रह्महत्यारे, शराबी, चोर तथा व्रतभज़ करने वालोंके लिये शास्त्रमें प्रायश्नित्तका विधान है; परंतु कृतघ्नके उद्धारका कोई उपाय नहीं बताया गया है ।। मित्रद्रोही नृशंसश्न कृतघ्नश्च नराधम: । क्रव्यादै: कृमिभिश्चिव न भुज्यन्ते हि तादृशा:,मित्रद्रोही, नृशंस, नराधम तथा कृतघ्न-ऐसे मनुष्योंका मांस मांसभक्षी जीव-जन्तु तथा कीड़े भी नहीं खाते हैं
rājan! brahmahatyāre, śarābī, cora tathā vratabhraṣṭa karane vāloṃ ke liye śāstra meṃ prāyaścittakā vidhāna hai; parantu kṛtaghna ke uddhār kā koī upāya nahīṃ batāyā gayā hai. mitradrohī nṛśaṃsaḥ kṛtaghnaś ca narādhamaḥ | kravyādaiḥ kṛmibhiś caiva na bhujyante hi tādṛśāḥ ||
Bhīṣma said: “O King, the scriptures prescribe expiations even for grave offenders—one who has slain a brāhmaṇa, a drunkard, a thief, and one who violates sacred vows. But for the ungrateful person no means of redemption is taught. A betrayer of friends, a cruel man, an ungrateful wretch—such a lowest of men is so vile that even flesh-eating beasts and worms will not consume his body.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma elevates gratitude and loyalty as foundational virtues: even severe ritual-legal sins have prescribed expiations, but ingratitude and betrayal of friends are portrayed as moral corruption so deep that scripture offers no clear path of atonement.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction to the king (Yudhiṣṭhira), Bhīṣma continues ethical counsel by contrasting punishable sins that admit penance with the uniquely condemned status of the ungrateful, friend-betraying, cruel person.