Shloka 105

Devanagari script

वेदेषु धर्मशास्त्रेषु मिथ्या यो वै द्विजातिषु । देवेषु पितृधर्मेषु सो$क्षयं नरकं॑ व्रजेत्‌,जो पुरुष वेद, धर्मशास्त्र, ब्राह्मण, देवता और पितृधर्मोमें मिथ्याबुद्धि रखता है, वह अक्षय नरकको प्राप्त होता है

Transliteration

vedeṣu dharmaśāstreṣu mithyā yo vai dvijātiṣu | deveṣu pitṛdharmeṣu so 'kṣayaṃ narakaṃ vrajet ||

Translation

युधिष्ठिर बोले—जो पुरुष वेदों और धर्मशास्त्रों के विषय में, द्विजों (ब्राह्मणों) के विषय में, देवताओं तथा पितृधर्म (श्राद्धादि) के विषय में मिथ्या या तिरस्कारपूर्ण बुद्धि रखता है, वह अक्षय नरक को प्राप्त होता है।

Word by Word

वेदेषुin the Vedas

धर्मशास्त्रेषुin the dharma-texts (law/ethics treatises)

मिथ्याfalsely; wrongly

यःwho

वैindeed

द्विजातिषुamong the twice-born (Brahmins etc.)

देवेषुamong the gods

पितृधर्मेषुin the rites/duties toward the ancestors

सःhe

अक्षयम्imperishable; endless

नरकम्hell

व्रजेत्would go; would attain

Speaker

युधिछिर उवाच

Characters & Entities

Yudhiṣṭhira

Vedas

Dharmaśāstras

Dvijātis (twice-born/Brahmins)

Devas (gods)

Pitṛs (ancestors)

Naraka (hell)

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?

The verse warns that deliberate false judgment or contempt toward foundational sources of dharma—Veda, Dharmaśāstra, the twice-born (as custodians of ritual learning), the gods, and ancestral obligations—undermines moral order and leads to grave karmic consequence, described as unending hell.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Vana Parva’s dharma-discussions, Yudhiṣṭhira articulates a principle about right belief and reverence: rejecting or maligning sacred authority and obligatory rites is presented as a serious ethical fault with severe afterlife परिणाम (result).