Shloka 39
एष एको महातेजा: पाण्डुपुत्रो धनंजय: । पिता च मम धर्मात्मा तस्य मे निष्कृति: कुतः,'ये पाण्डुपुत्र धनंजय अद्वितीय वीर, महान् तेजस्वी, धर्मात्मा तथा मेरे पिता थे। इनका वध करके मैंने महान् पाप किया है। अब मेरा उद्धार कैसे हो सकता है?”
vaiśampāyana uvāca |
eṣa eko mahātejāḥ pāṇḍuputro dhanaṃjayaḥ |
pitā ca mama dharmātmā tasya me niṣkṛtiḥ kutaḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “This one—Dhanaṃjaya (Arjuna), the son of Pāṇḍu—was unrivalled, a man of great splendor. He was also my righteous-hearted father. By causing his death I have incurred a grievous sin; from where can my expiation and deliverance now arise?”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even when the slain is a celebrated hero and dharmic person, the speaker foregrounds moral accountability: the burden of wrongdoing is not erased by circumstance, and one must seek niṣkṛti (expiation) through dharmic means.
Vaiśampāyana reports a lament in which the speaker identifies Dhanaṃjaya (Arjuna) as uniquely radiant and also as his own righteous father, then confesses the sin of having caused his death and asks how any expiation or release could be possible.