Shloka 33

कर्णनिधनवृत्तान्तनिवेदनम् | Reporting Karṇa’s Fall to Yudhiṣṭhira

Devanagari script

विवाहकाले रतिसम्प्रयोगे प्राणात्यये सर्वधनापहारे । विप्रस्य चार्थे हानृतं वदेत पज्चानृतान्याहुरपातकानि,विवाहकालमें, स्त्रीप्रसंगके समय, किसीके प्राणोंपर संकट आनेपर, सर्वस्वका अपहरण होते समय तथा ब्राह्मणकी भलाईके लिये आवश्यकता हो तो असत्य बोल दे; इन पाँच अवसरोंपर झूठ बोलनेसे पाप नहीं होता

Transliteration

vivāhakāle ratisamprayoge prāṇātyaye sarvadhanāpahāre | viprasya cārthe hānṛtaṃ vadet pañcānṛtāny āhur apātakāni ||

Translation

Śrī Kṛṣṇa dijo: «En el momento del matrimonio, en el contexto de la unión sexual, cuando la vida corre peligro, cuando se está llevando todo el patrimonio, y cuando es necesario para el bienestar de un brāhmaṇa, puede decirse una falsedad. Las falsedades dichas en estas cinco ocasiones se declaran no pecaminosas».

Word by Word

• {'vivāha-kāla': 'time of marriage

• wedding occasion', 'rati-samprayoga': 'sexual union

• intimate intercourse', 'prāṇa-atyaya': 'peril to life

• threat of death', 'sarva-dhana-apahāra': 'seizure/abduction of all wealth

• total robbery', 'viprasya arthe': 'for the sake/benefit of a brāhmaṇa', 'hānṛtam': 'untruth

• false statement (lit. ‘not-truth’)', 'vadet': 'one should say/speak', 'pañca': 'five', 'anṛtāni': 'untruths

• falsehoods', 'āhuḥ': 'they say

• they declare', 'apātakāni': 'not a sin/offense

Speaker

श्रीकृष्ण उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Śrī Kṛṣṇa
• vipra (brāhmaṇa)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse teaches that truthfulness is a central norm, yet dharma recognizes rare emergency or socially protected contexts where speaking an untruth may be ethically permitted and treated as non-sinful—especially to prevent grave harm (loss of life or total ruin) or to secure a brāhmaṇa’s welfare.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Karṇa Parva, amid the moral strain of the Kurukṣetra war, Śrī Kṛṣṇa articulates a principle of situational ethics (āpaddharma), clarifying that rigid adherence to literal truth can be overridden in specific circumstances to protect higher values such as life, social order, and urgent welfare.