Shloka 533
Adhyāya 166: Kṛtaghna-doṣa (कृतघ्नदोषः) — the fault of ingratitude and the limits of expiation
एवं वा तपसा युक्तो ब्रह्मृहा सवनी भवेत् | ब्रह्महत्या करनेवाला मनुष्य उस मरे हुए ब्राह्मगकी खोपड़ी लेकर अपना पापकर्म लोगोंको सुनाता रहे और बारह वर्षोतक ब्रह्मचर्यका पालन करते हुए सबेरे
evaṁ vā tapasā yukto brahmahā sāvanī bhavet |
ビーシュマは言った。「あるいは、婆羅門を殺した者も苦行によって清められる。殺された婆羅門の頭蓋を自らの所業の明白な印として携え、人々の前で罪を公然と告白し、十二年のあいだ厳格な梵行（禁欲）を守り、夜明け・正午・黄昏の一日三度沐浴せよ。そのような贖罪に堅く身を置くなら、婆羅門殺しという重罪から清浄を得る。」
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even the gravest moral transgression (brahmahatyā) is addressed within dharma through prāyaścitta: public acknowledgment of wrongdoing, sustained self-restraint (brahmacarya), and disciplined ritual purification over a long period, aiming at inner reform and social-ethical accountability.
In Bhishma’s instruction on dharma during the Shanti Parva, he outlines an alternative expiatory regimen for a Brahmin-slayer: carrying the slain Brahmin’s skull as a sign of guilt, confessing the act, observing twelve years of celibacy, and bathing at the three daily ritual times, by which purification is said to be attained.