Shloka 3

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

Devanagari script

अनसूयुरध:शायी कर्म लोके प्रकाशयन्‌ | पूर्णद्धादिशभिर्वर्षेब्रद्म॒हा विप्रमुच्यते,यदि किसीने ब्रह्महत्या की हो तो वह भिक्षा मागकर एक समय भोजन करे, अपना सब काम स्वयं ही करे, हाथमें खप्पर और खाटका पाया लिये रहे, सदा ब्रह्मचर्यव्रतका पालन करे, उद्यमशील बना रहे, किसीके दोष न देखे, जमीन पर सोये और लोकमें अपना पापकर्म प्रकट करता रहे। इस प्रकार बारह वर्षतक करनेसे ब्रह्महत्यारा पापमुक्त हो जाता है

Transliteration

an asūyur adhaḥśāyī karma loke prakāśayan | pūrṇadvādaśabhir varṣair brahmahā vipramucyate ||

Translation

Vyāsa berkata: “Pembunuh brāhmaṇa akan terbebas dari dosa bila selama dua belas tahun penuh ia hidup tanpa dengki, tidur di tanah, dan mengakui perbuatannya di hadapan dunia.”

Word by Word

अनसूयुःnon-censorious, not finding fault

अधःशायीsleeping on the ground

कर्मdeed, act

लोकेin the world, publicly

प्रकाशयन्making known, declaring

पूर्णद्वादशभिःwith a full twelve

वर्षैःby/with years

ब्रह्महाslayer of a Brahmin (brahma-killer)

विप्रमुच्यतेis completely released (from sin)

Speaker

व्यास उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vyāsa

brahmahā (slayer of a brāhmaṇa)

brahmahatyā (sin of killing a brāhmaṇa)

bhikṣā (alms)

kapāla (skull-bowl)

daṇḍa/khaṭvāṅga (staff)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Grave wrongdoing requires sustained, visible, and disciplined atonement: humility (begging), restraint (celibacy, simple living), self-reliance, non-maliciousness, and public acknowledgment over a long period are presented as the means by which the sinner is purified.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vyāsa states a rule of prāyaścitta: he describes the ascetic regimen and duration (twelve years) by which a person guilty of brahmahatyā is said to become freed from the sin.