Shloka 27
पितृहन्तृनहं हत्वा पज्चालान् निशि सौप्तिके । काम॑ कीट: पतड़ो वा जन्म प्राप्प भवामि वै,पिताकी हत्या करनेवाले पांचालोंका रातको सोते समय वध करके मैं भले ही दूसरे जन्ममें कीट या पतंग हो जाऊँ, सब कुछ स्वीकार है
pitṛhantṝn ahaṃ hatvā pāñcālān niśi sauptike | kāmaṃ kīṭaḥ pataṅgo vā janma prāpya bhavāmi vai ||
Kṛpa said: “Having slain the Pāñcālas—those who killed my father—at night while they lie asleep, I accept whatever consequence may follow. Even if, in another birth, I must become a worm or a moth, so be it.”
कृप उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the tension between personal vengeance and ethical restraint: Kṛpa frames the killing as retribution for his father’s death and declares willingness to bear severe karmic fallout (even a low rebirth), underscoring how revenge can override concern for moral consequence while still acknowledging that consequence exists.
In the Sauptika episode, the surviving Kaurava-side warriors contemplate or justify a nocturnal attack on the sleeping Pāñcālas. Here Kṛpa states that killing them in their sleep—because they are ‘father-slayers’—is worth any personal afterlife penalty.