Shloka 4

स्वर्गारोहणपर्व — तृतीयोऽध्यायः

Indra and Dharma’s Consolation; Celestial Gaṅgā Purification

Devanagari script

नादृश्यन्त च तास्तत्र यातना: पापकर्मिणाम्‌ | नदी वैतरणी चैव कूटशाल्मलिना सह

Transliteration

naadṛśyanta ca tāstatra yātanāḥ pāpakarmiṇām | nadī vaitaraṇī caiva kūṭaśālmalinā saha ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana said: There, no torments meant for sinners were seen—neither the river Vaitaraṇī nor the dreadful thorny Śālmalī-tree.

Word by Word

नnot

अदृश्यन्तwere seen / appeared

चand

ताःthose (f.)

तत्रthere

यातनाःtorments, punishments

पापकर्मिणाम्of evil-doers / of those with sinful deeds

नदीriver

वैतरणीVaitaraṇī (name of the river)

चand

एवindeed, also

कूटशाल्मलिनाwith (the) Kūṭaśālmalin (tree/thorny silk-cotton, as a named object)

सहtogether with

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

Vaitaraṇī (river)

Kūṭaśālmalī / Śālmalī (thorny tree of torment)

pāpakarmiṇaḥ (evil-doers, sinners)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse contrasts the fate of sinners with the condition of the protagonists: the classic emblems of post-mortem punishment (Vaitaraṇī and the spiked Śālmalī) are absent, implying that severe punitive suffering is tied to pāpa (sinful action) and that those aligned with dharma are not subject to such torments.

What is happening in the narrative?

As Vaiśampāyana narrates the final journey in Svargārohaṇa, he notes that the travelers do not encounter the usual hellish ordeals associated with wrongdoers—no Vaitaraṇī river and no Kūṭaśālmalī—signaling a passage not marked by the punishments reserved for the sinful.