Shloka 53

Adhyāya 166: Kṛtaghna-doṣa (कृतघ्नदोषः) — the fault of ingratitude and the limits of expiation

Devanagari script

तथैव द्वादशसमा: कपाली ब्रह्महा भवेत्‌ । ब्रह्मचारी भवेन्नित्यं स्वकर्म ख्यापयन्‌ मुनि:

Transliteration

tathaiva dvādaśa-samāḥ kapālī brahmahā bhavet | brahmacārī bhaven nityaṃ svakarma khyāpayan muniḥ ||

Translation

അതുപോലെ അവൻ പന്ത്രണ്ടു വർഷം കപാലധാരിയായ തപസ്വിയെപ്പോലെ ജീവിക്കണം; അവനെ ബ്രഹ്മഹത്യാപാപം ബാധിച്ചവനായി കണക്കാക്കണം. അവൻ നിത്യവും ബ്രഹ്മചാരിയായി നിലകൊണ്ട്, മുനിയായി തന്റെ ചെയ്ത കർമം (പ്രായശ്ചിത്തവും) പരസ്യമായി അറിയിക്കണം.

Word by Word

• तथा: thus
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तथा

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

• द्वादश: twelve
• Type: Adjective
• Root: द्वादश
• Form: Gender: (agreeing) Masculine; Case: Nominative; Number: Plural

• समाः: years
• समाः: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: समा
• Form: Gender: Feminine; Case: Nominative; Number: Plural

• कपाली: a skull-bearer (kapālin)
• कपाली: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: कपाली
• Form: Gender: Masculine; Case: Nominative; Number: Singular

• ब्रह्महा: slayer of a brāhmaṇa
• ब्रह्महा: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: ब्रह्महन्
• Form: Gender: Masculine; Case: Nominative; Number: Singular

• भवेत्: would be/should become
• Type: Verb
• Root: भू
• Form: Tense/Mood: Optative (Vidhi-liṅ); Person: 3rd; Number: Singular

• ब्रह्मचारी: celibate student (brahmacārin)
• ब्रह्मचारी: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: ब्रह्मचारिन्
• Form: Gender: Masculine; Case: Nominative; Number: Singular

• भवेत्: would be/should become
• Type: Verb
• Root: भू
• Form: Tense/Mood: Optative (Vidhi-liṅ); Person: 3rd; Number: Singular

• नित्यम्: always
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: नित्य

• स्वकर्म: one's own duty/action
• स्वकर्म: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: स्वकर्मन्
• Form: Gender: Neuter; Case: Accusative; Number: Singular

• ख्यापयन्: proclaiming/making known
• Type: Verb
• Root: ख्यापयत् (causative of √ख्या)
• Form: Participle: Present active (śatṛ); Gender: Masculine; Case: Nominative; Number: Singular

• मुनिः: sage
• मुनिः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: मुनि
• Form: Gender: Masculine; Case: Nominative; Number: Singular

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• kapālī (skull-bearing ascetic)
• brahmahā (brahmin-slayer)
• muni (sage)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Grave wrongdoing requires sustained, disciplined expiation: adopting austere marks of penance (kapālī), maintaining lifelong-like restraint (brahmacarya during the vow), and honestly acknowledging one’s deed rather than concealing it.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Bhīṣma’s dharma-instruction during the Śānti Parva, he outlines a specific expiatory regimen for the sin of brahmin-slaying: a twelve-year skull-bearing ascetic observance combined with continual celibacy and public avowal of the act and the penance.