Shloka 19
Udyoga Parva, Adhyāya 13: Śacī’s Delay, Deva-Counsel, and Indra’s Purification
विभज्य ब्रह्महत्यां तु वृक्षेषु च नदीषु च । पर्वतेषु पृथिव्यां च स्त्रीषु चैव युधिष्ठिर,युधिष्ठिर! इन्द्रने वृक्ष, नदी, पर्वत, पृथ्वी और स्त्री-समुदायमें ब्रह्महत्याको बाँट दिया
vibhajya brahmahatyāṃ tu vṛkṣeṣu ca nadīṣu ca | parvateṣu pṛthivyāṃ ca strīṣu caiva yudhiṣṭhira ||
Nahuṣa dit : « Ô Yudhiṣṭhira, Indra a réparti le fardeau de la brahmahatyā (le péché d’avoir tué un brāhmaṇa) en le distribuant parmi les arbres, les rivières, les montagnes, la terre, et aussi parmi les femmes. Ainsi, cette terrible souillure morale ne fut pas portée par lui seul, mais partagée à travers ces domaines du monde. »
नहुष उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the gravity of brahmahatyā and frames expiation as a cosmic-ethical process: wrongdoing creates a moral burden that demands resolution, and in mythic terms that burden can be redistributed across aspects of the world, underscoring interconnectedness and the seriousness of transgression.
Nahuṣa addresses Yudhiṣṭhira and recounts a tradition about Indra: after incurring brahmahatyā, Indra divided that sin and placed portions of it among trees, rivers, mountains, the earth, and women—an etiological explanation for certain perceived ‘defects’ or conditions associated with these domains in later narrative contexts.