Shloka 35
Vyāsa’s Vision, the Power of Bhāgavatam, and the Arrest of Aśvatthāmā
मैनं पार्थार्हसि त्रातुं ब्रह्मबन्धुमिमं जहि । योऽसावनागस: सुप्तानवधीन्निशि बालकान् ॥ ३५ ॥
mainaṁ pārthārhasi trātuṁ brahma-bandhum imaṁ jahi yo ’sāv anāgasaḥ suptān avadhīn niśi bālakān
ശ്രീകൃഷ്ണ ഭഗവാൻ പറഞ്ഞു: ഹേ പാർത്ഥാ, ഉറങ്ങിക്കിടന്ന നിരപരാധികളായ കുട്ടികളെ കൊന്ന ഈ ബ്രഹ്മബന്ധുവിനോട് (ബ്രാഹ്മണന്റെ അധമനായ ബന്ധു) നീ കരുണ കാണിക്കരുത്, ഇവനെ വധിക്കുക.
The word brahma-bandhu is significant. A person who happens to take birth in the family of a brāhmaṇa but is not qualified to be called a brāhmaṇa is addressed as the relative of a brāhmaṇa, and not as a brāhmaṇa. The son of a high court judge is not virtually a high court judge, but there is no harm in addressing a high court judge’s son as a relative of the honorable justice. Therefore, as by birth only one does not become a high court judge, so also one does not become a brāhmaṇa simply by birthright but by acquiring the necessary qualifications of a brāhmaṇa. As the high court judgeship is a post for the qualified man, so also the post of a brāhmaṇa is attainable by qualification only. The śāstra enjoins that if good qualifications are seen in a person born in a family other than that of a brāhmaṇa, the qualified man has to be accepted as a brāhmaṇa, and similarly if a person born in the family of a brāhmaṇa is void of brahminical qualification, then he must be treated as a non- brāhmaṇa or, in better terms, a relative of a brāhmaṇa. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the supreme authority of all religious principles, the Vedas, has personally pointed out these differences, and He is about to explain the reason for this in the following ślokas.
FAQs
This verse urges Arjuna not to spare Aśvatthāmā, calling him a brahma-bandhu—brāhmaṇa by birth but degraded by cruel acts—therefore fit for severe punishment.
Bhīma cites Aśvatthāmā’s night-time murder of innocent, sleeping children (the Pāṇḍavas’ sons) as an unforgivable atrocity deserving immediate justice.
It teaches discernment between true virtue and mere status, and emphasizes that grave harm to the innocent must be confronted with principled accountability.