Shloka 34

Adhyāya 166: Kṛtaghna-doṣa (कृतघ्नदोषः) — the fault of ingratitude and the limits of expiation

Devanagari script

सुरापान ब्रह्म॒हत्या गुरुतल्पमथापि वा । अनिर्देश्यानि मन्यन्ते प्राणान्‍्तमिति धारणा

Transliteration

surāpāna-brahmahatyā guru-talpam athāpi vā | anirdeśyāni manyante prāṇāntam iti dhāraṇā ||

Translation

ビーシュマは言った。「酒に溺れること、バラモン殺し、そして師の床を汚すこと（すなわちグルの妻との性の過ち）—これらは、通常の贖罪（プラーヤシュチッタ）を定め得ぬ大罪と見なされる。学識ある者たちは、かかる行いの贖いは、ただ自ら命を絶つことのみであると説く。」

Word by Word

• {'surāpāna': 'drinking surā

• consumption of intoxicating liquor', 'brahmahatyā': 'killing of a brāhmaṇa

• brahmin-slaying (a major sin)', 'guru-talpam': 'the guru’s bed

• euphemism for adultery with the teacher’s wife', 'athāpi vā': 'or even

• and also', 'anirdeśyāni': 'not to be specified/prescribed

• beyond (ordinary) prescription', 'manyante': 'they consider

• they hold (opinion)', 'prāṇāntam': 'the end of life

• death', 'iti': 'thus

• in this manner', 'dhāraṇā': 'view, conviction, doctrinal position'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• guru (teacher)
• guru-patnī (teacher’s wife)
• brāhmaṇa

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Bhīṣma classifies certain acts—liquor-drinking, brāhmaṇa-slaying, and violating the guru’s bed—as mahāpātakas so grave that ordinary ritual expiations are considered inadequate; some authorities therefore regard death (self-ending) as the only expiation.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Śānti Parva’s dharma-instruction, Bhīṣma is advising Yudhiṣṭhira on moral law and penance, explaining how traditional authorities evaluate the heaviest transgressions and what they deem to be their (non-)expiability.