Vamana Purana — Karmic Causes of Narakas, Shloka 38

Karmic Causes of Narakas and the Irremediability of Ingratitude (Kṛtaghna-doṣa)

Devanagari script

स्वर्णस्तेयी च ब्रह्मघ्नः सुरापो गुरुलल्पगः तथा गोभूमिहर्त्तरो गोस्त्रीबालहनाश्च ये

Transliteration

svarṇasteyī ca brahmaghnaḥ surāpo gurulalpagaḥ tathā gobhūmiharttaro gostrībālahanāśca ye

Translation

The stealer of gold, the slayer of a brāhmaṇa, the drinker of liquor, the violator of the guru’s bed; likewise those who steal cows or land, and those who kill cows, women, or children—all these are grievous sinners, condemned to hells as the context continues.

Word by Word

• svarṇa-steyī: gold-thief
• svarṇa-steyī: Karta (कर्ता/subject)
• Type: Noun
• Root: svarṇa (प्रातिपदिक) + steyin (प्रातिपदिक; from √stey/√styai ‘to steal’)
• Form: Tatpuruṣa, Masculine, Nominative singular

• ca: and
• ca: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: ca (अव्यय)
• Form: Avyaya, conjunction

• brahma-ghnaḥ: slayer of a brāhmaṇa
• brahma-ghnaḥ: Karta (कर्ता/subject)
• Type: Noun
• Root: brahman (प्रातिपदिक) + ghna (प्रातिपदिक; from √han)
• Form: Tatpuruṣa, Masculine, Nominative singular

• surā-paḥ: drinker of liquor
• surā-paḥ: Karta (कर्ता/subject)
• Type: Noun
• Root: surā (प्रातिपदिक) + pa (प्रातिपदिक; from √pā ‘to drink’)
• Form: Tatpuruṣa, Masculine, Nominative singular

• guru-lalpagaḥ: one who lusts after the guru’s wife (or the guru)
• guru-lalpagaḥ: Karta (कर्ता/subject)
• Type: Noun
• Root: guru (प्रातिपदिक) + lalpaga (प्रातिपदिक; from √lalp ‘to desire/long for’)
• Form: Tatpuruṣa, Masculine, Nominative singular

• tathā: likewise
• tathā: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: tathā (अव्यय)
• Form: Avyaya, adverb

• go-bhūmi-hartāraḥ: stealers of cows and land
• go-bhūmi-hartāraḥ: Karta (कर्ता/subject)
• Type: Noun
• Root: go (प्रातिपदिक) + bhūmi (प्रातिपदिक) + hartṛ (प्रातिपदिक; from √hṛ ‘to take/steal’)
• Form: Dvandva (समाहार/इतरेतर: ‘goś ca bhūmeś ca hartāraḥ’), Masculine, Nominative plural

• go-strī-bāla-hanāḥ: killers of cows, women, and children
• go-strī-bāla-hanāḥ: Karta (कर्ता/subject)
• Type: Noun
• Root: go (प्रातिपदिक) + strī (प्रातिपदिक) + bāla (प्रातिपदिक) + hana (प्रातिपदिक; from √han)
• Form: Dvandva (itaretara: ‘goś ca striyaś ca bālāś ca hanāḥ’), Masculine, Nominative plural

• ca: and
• ca: Sambandha (सम्बन्ध)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: ca (अव्यय)
• Form: Avyaya, conjunction

• ye: who (those who)
• ye: Karta (कर्ता/relative subject)
• Type: Noun
• Root: yad (प्रातिपदिक/सर्वनाम)
• Form: Pronoun, Masculine, Nominative plural

Speakers

• Not explicit in the provided excerpt (often Pulastya → Nārada frame)

Key Themes

• Mahāpātaka
• Dharmaśāstra ethics
• Karma-phala
• Protection of brāhmaṇa/cow/women/children
• Social order and sin

Verse Rasa (Emotional Flavour)

{ "primaryRasa": "bhayanaka", "secondaryRasa": "raudra", "rasaIntensity": 0, "emotionalArcPosition": "", "moodDescriptors": [] }

FAQs

What is the philosophical or ethical takeaway?

The verse groups ‘major sins’ that destabilize sacred learning (brahmahatyā), social trust (theft of gold/land), bodily discipline (intoxication), and the guru-disciple sanctity (sexual transgression), along with violence against protected beings (cow, women, children). The ethical message is that society’s moral ecology depends on restraining greed, lust, and violence.

How does this fit the Pancalakshana?

It is primarily ancillary dharma-upadeśa (ethical instruction) rather than a pancalakṣaṇa core. Many Purāṇas embed such lists within larger narrative cycles; here it functions as a normative catalogue of transgressions and their consequences.

What is the symbolic significance?

The clustering is symbolic: gold/land represent material greed; liquor represents loss of discrimination (viveka); violation of the guru’s bed represents breach of the highest human relationship of transmission (śruti/vidyā); killing cow/woman/child represents destruction of nurture, continuity, and vulnerability. Together they depict adharma as the collapse of restraint.