Shloka 39
श्वपाकवन्म्लेच्छगणान् हत्वा चान्यान् पृथग्विधान् । अज्ञानान्मूढवद् ब्रह्मन् पुत्रदारधनेप्सया,“ब्रह्मन! ब्रह्मवेत्ता होकर भी आपने स्त्री, धन और पुत्रकी लिप्सासे मूर्ख चाण्डालोंके समान कितने ही म्लेच्छों तथा अन्य नाना प्रकारके क्षत्रियसमूहोंका संहार कर डाला है
śvapākavan mlecchagaṇān hatvā cānyān pṛthagvidhān | ajñānān mūḍhavad brahman putradāradhanepsayā ||
Sañjaya said: “O Brahmin, though you are a knower of Brahman, driven by craving for son, wife, and wealth, you have—like an ignorant fool, like a low outcaste—slain hosts of mlecchas and many other groups of diverse kinds. How could such violence arise from one who knows the highest truth?”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse criticizes the contradiction between spiritual knowledge (being a brahmavit) and conduct driven by craving for worldly attachments—son, spouse, and wealth—leading to unethical violence. It frames such killing as arising from ignorance and delusion, not from true wisdom.
Sañjaya reports a rebuke directed at a learned ‘Brahman’: despite claiming higher knowledge, he is accused of slaughtering many groups (mlecchas and others) out of worldly desire, likened rhetorically to the behavior of an ignorant outcaste.