Shloka 39
स्वर्गारोहणपर्व — तृतीयोऽध्यायः
Indra and Dharma’s Consolation; Celestial Gaṅgā Purification
“नरेश्वर! सव्यसाची अर्जुन, भीमसेन, पुरुषप्रवर नकुल-सहदेव अथवा सत्यवादी शूरवीर कर्ण--इनमेंसे कोई भी चिरकालतक नरकमें रहनेके योग्य नहीं है ।। न कृष्णा राजपुत्री च नरकार्हा कथंचन । एहोहि भरतश्रेष्ठ पश्य गड्जां त्रिलोकगाम्,“भरतश्रेष्ठ) राजकुमारी कृष्णा भी किसी तरह नरकमें जानेयोग्य नहीं है। आओ, त्रिभुवनगामिनी गंगाजीका दर्शन करो”
vaiśampāyana uvāca: nareśvara! savyasācī arjunaḥ, bhīmasenaḥ, puruṣapravaraḥ nakula-sahadevau athavā satyavādī śūravīraḥ karṇaḥ—eṣāṃ madhye kaścid api cirakālaṃ narake vāsa-yogyo na bhavati. na kṛṣṇā rājaputrī ca narakārhā kathaṃcana. ehi hi bharataśreṣṭha, paśya gaṅgāṃ trilokagām.
ヴァイシャンパーヤナは言った。「王よ。両手を等しく操るアルジュナ（サヴィヤサーチー）も、ビーマセーナも、人中第一のナクラとサハデーヴァも、さらには真実を語る勇士カルナも――その誰ひとりとして、地獄に長く住まうに値する者はいない。王女クリシュナーもまた、いかなる意味でも地獄に堕ちるべきではない。来たれ、バーラタ族の最勝者よ。三界に通う流れをもつガンガーを見よ。」
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even when great figures undergo brief post-war moral reckoning, the epic insists on proportional justice: fundamentally dharmic persons (and those with major virtues like truthfulness and heroism) are not destined for prolonged hell. The mention of Gaṅgā signals purification and a transition from punitive vision to restoration and higher passage.
Vaiśampāyana reassures the addressed king (Janamejaya in the frame narrative) that the principal heroes—Arjuna, Bhīma, Nakula, Sahadeva, and Karṇa—and also Kṛṣṇā (Draupadī) are not truly hell-bound for long. He then invites him to behold the Gaṅgā, indicating a shift toward a purifying, world-transcending vision within the Svargarohana (ascent to heaven) sequence.