Shloka 33

Devanagari script

पापकर्मतया चैव संकरं तेन पुष्यति । संकरो नरकायैव सा काष्ठा पापकर्मणाम्‌,इस प्रकार पापकर्मोमें प्रवृत्त होनेके कारण वह वर्णसंकर संतानोंका पोषक होता है और वर्णसंकर केवल नरककी ही प्राप्ति कराता है। पापियोंकी यही अन्तिम गति है

Transliteration

pāpakarmatayaiva caiva saṅkaraṃ tena puṣyati | saṅkaro narakāyaiva sā kāṣṭhā pāpakarmaṇām ||

Translation

ಹೀಗೆ ಪಾಪಕರ್ಮಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ತೊಡಗಿ ಅವನು ವರ್ಣಸಂಕರವನ್ನು ಪೋಷಿಸುತ್ತಾನೆ. ಆ ವರ್ಣಸಂಕರವು ನರಕಕ್ಕೇ ಕರೆದೊಯ್ಯುತ್ತದೆ—ಪಾಪಕರ್ಮಗಳ ಅಂತಿಮ, ಕಹಿಯಾದ ಪರಾಕಾಷ್ಠೆ ಇದೇ.

Word by Word

पापकर्मतयाby/through sinful action (sinful conduct)

चand

एवindeed/only

संकरम्intermixture (of castes), mixed progeny

तेनby that/thereby

पुष्यतिnourishes/promotes

संकरःintermixture (mixed progeny)

नरकायfor hell / leading to hell

एवonly/indeed

साthat (she/that fate)

काष्ठाfinal limit/end (ultimate state)

पापकर्मणाम्of sinful deeds / of sinners (lit. of sinful actions)

Speaker

युधिछिर उवाच

Characters & Entities

Yudhiṣṭhira

naraka (hell)

varṇa-saṅkara (social/moral disorder)

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Sinful conduct does not remain private; it fosters varṇa-saṅkara—social and moral disorder—and that disorder is portrayed as leading inevitably to naraka. The verse stresses the ultimate consequence (kāṣṭhā) of persistent wrongdoing.

What is happening in the narrative?

Yudhiṣṭhira is articulating an ethical warning within the Udyoga Parva’s pre-war deliberations: when people act adharma, they generate broader societal breakdown, and the text frames this as a grave karmic outcome culminating in hell.