Shloka 38

Babhruvāhana’s Lament and Appeal for Expiation (प्रायश्चित्त-याचना)

Devanagari script

वीरं हि क्षत्रियं हत्वा गोशतेन प्रमुच्यते । पितरं तु निहत्यैवं दुर्लभा निष्कृतिर्मम,“किसी एक वीर क्षत्रियका वध करके विजेता वीर सौ गोदान करनेसे उस पापसे छुटकारा पाता है; परंतु पिताकी हत्या करके इस प्रकार उस पापसे छुटकारा मिल जाय, यह मेरे लिये सर्वथा दुर्लभ है

Transliteration

vīraṃ hi kṣatriyaṃ hatvā gośatena pramucyate | pitaraṃ tu nihatyaivaṃ durlabhā niṣkṛtir mama ||

Translation

ഒരു വീര ക്ഷത്രിയനെ വധിച്ച പാപം നൂറ് ഗോദാനങ്ങളാൽ മാറും; എന്നാൽ പിതാവിനെ വധിച്ച ശേഷം അങ്ങനെ തന്നെ പ്രായശ്ചിത്തം എനിക്ക് ലഭിക്കുക അത്യന്തം ദുർലഭം.

Word by Word

वीरम्a hero/brave man

हिindeed/for

क्षत्रियम्a Kshatriya

हत्वाhaving killed

गोशतेनby (the gift of) a hundred cows

प्रमुच्यतेis released/freed

पितरम्father

तुbut/however

निहत्यhaving slain

एवम्thus/in this way

दुर्लभाhard to obtain

निष्कृतिःexpiation/atonement

ममfor me/of me

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśaṃpāyana

kṣatriya

father (pitṛ)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse contrasts degrees of moral transgression: even grave violence like killing a heroic warrior is presented as having a recognized expiation (a hundred cow-gifts), whereas killing one’s father is portrayed as a uniquely weighty sin whose atonement is extremely difficult.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśaṃpāyana reports a reflection on guilt and expiation: the speaker measures conventional ritual atonements for battlefield killing against the far more severe, socially and ethically catastrophic act of patricide, emphasizing the near-impossibility of cleansing that stain.