Shloka 14

Prāyaścitta and Contextual Non-Culpability (प्रायश्चित्त-निमित्त-अदोषवाद)

Devanagari script

शतं वै यस्तु काम्बोजान ब्राह्मणेभ्य: प्रयच्छति । नियतेभ्यो महीपाल स च पापात्‌ प्रमुच्यते,भूपाल! जो संयम-नियमसे रहनेवाले ब्राह्मणोंको सौ काबुली घोड़ोंका दान करता है, उसे भी पापसे छुटकारा मिल जाता है

Transliteration

śataṃ vai yastu kāmbojān brāhmaṇebhyaḥ prayacchati | niyatebhyo mahīpāla sa ca pāpāt pramucyate ||

Translation

Vyāsa dit : Ô roi, celui qui offre en don cent chevaux de Kāmboja à des brāhmaṇas disciplinés—fermement établis dans la maîtrise de soi et l’observance—est lui aussi délivré du péché.

Word by Word

शतम्a hundred

वैindeed/assuredly

यःwho (he who)

तुbut/and (emphatic)

काम्बोजान्Kambojas (Kamboja horses/people; here: Kamboja horses)

ब्राह्मणेभ्यःto Brahmins

प्रयच्छतिgives/bestows

नियतेभ्यःto the disciplined/observant (ones)

महीपालO king (protector of the earth)

सःhe

चand/also

पापात्from sin

प्रमुच्यतेis released/freed

भूपालO king (protector of the earth)

Speaker

व्यास उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vyāsa

mahīpāla (the king addressed)

brāhmaṇas

Kāmboja (as a source-region descriptor)

Kāmboja horses

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

That generous charity (dāna), when offered to worthy and disciplined brāhmaṇas, functions as a powerful means of moral purification, freeing the giver from sin.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vyāsa instructs a king on dharma by citing a specific exemplary gift—one hundred Kāmboja horses given to self-restrained brāhmaṇas—and states the spiritual result: release from sin.