Shloka 102

Dharma-vyādha’s Analysis of Moral Decline and the Mahābhūta–Guṇa Schema (धर्मव्याधोपदेशः)

Devanagari script

न हि पापानि कर्माणि शुद्धयबन्त्यनशनादिभि: । सीदत्यनशनादेव मांसशोणितलेपन:

Transliteration

na hi pāpāni karmāṇi śuddhyanty anaśanādibhiḥ | sīdaty anaśanād eva māṃsaśoṇitalepanaḥ ||

Translation

ユディシュティラは言った。「罪ある行いは、断食などの苦行だけで清められるものではない。肉と血にまみれた者は、断食だけではただ衰え果てるにすぎぬ。」

Word by Word

• न: not
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: न

• हि: indeed/for
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: हि

• पापानि: sinful
• पापानि: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: पाप
• Form: neuter, nominative, plural

• कर्माणि: actions/deeds
• कर्माणि: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: कर्मन्
• Form: neuter, nominative, plural

• शुध्यन्ति: become purified
• Type: Verb
• Root: शुध्
• Form: present, 3rd, plural, parasmaipada

• अनशनादिभिः: by fasting and the like
• अनशनादिभिः: Karana
• Type: Noun
• Root: अनशन-आदि
• Form: masculine, instrumental, plural

• सीदति: wastes away/sinks
• Type: Verb
• Root: सद्
• Form: present, 3rd, singular, parasmaipada

• अनशनात्: from fasting
• अनशनात्: Apadana
• Type: Noun
• Root: अनशन
• Form: neuter, ablative, singular

• एव: only/indeed
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: एव

• मांसशोणितलेपनः: one smeared with flesh and blood
• मांसशोणितलेपनः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: मांस-शोणित-लेपन
• Form: masculine, nominative, singular

Speaker

युधिछिर उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Yudhiṣṭhira

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

External austerities like fasting do not by themselves erase the moral weight of wrongdoing; true purification requires appropriate atonement and ethical transformation, not mere self-starvation.

What is happening in the narrative?

Yudhiṣṭhira reflects on the limits of ascetic practices as a means of expiating grave faults, warning that fasting alone only weakens a person still stained by violent or sinful deeds.