Shloka 36
Tīrtha-yātrā: Phalaśruti and Sacred Geography from Lohitya to Prayāga
Pulastya’s Instruction
यच्च रोषाभिभूतेन क्षत्रमुत्सादितं त्वया । ततश्न पापान्मुक्तस्त्वं पतितास्ते स्वकर्मभि:,“तुमने जो रोषमें भरकर क्षत्रियकुलका संहार किया है, उस पापसे तुम मुक्त हो गये। वे क्षत्रिय अपने ही कर्मसे मरे हैं
yac ca roṣābhibhūtena kṣatram utsāditaṁ tvayā | tataś ca pāpān muktaḥ tvaṁ patitās te svakarmabhiḥ ||
And as for the annihilation of the Kṣatriya order that you carried out while overcome by wrath—of that sin you are now released. Those Kṣatriyas fell because of their own deeds (their own karma).
घुलस्त्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even when a grave act is performed in anger, moral responsibility is assessed through dharma and karma: the speaker frames the slain Kṣatriyas as meeting the results of their own deeds, and declares the agent freed from the specific sin—highlighting the Mahābhārata’s emphasis on karmic causality and the possibility of release from guilt.
The speaker addresses the addressee about a past episode of wrath-driven destruction of the Kṣatriya class, and reassures him that he is no longer bound by that sin, asserting that those who died did so due to their own karma.