Shloka 51

The Greatness of Kāśī (Kāśī-māhātmya) and Avimukta’s Liberative Power

Devanagari script

ब्राह्मणाः क्षत्त्रिया वैश्याः शूद्रा वै वर्णसंकराः । क्रिमयश्चैव ये म्लेच्छाः संकीर्णाः पापयोनयः ॥ ५१ ॥

Transliteration

brāhmaṇāḥ kṣattriyā vaiśyāḥ śūdrā vai varṇasaṃkarāḥ | krimayaścaiva ye mlecchāḥ saṃkīrṇāḥ pāpayonayaḥ || 51 ||

Translation

ബ്രാഹ്മണർ, ക്ഷത്രിയർ, വൈശ്യർ, ശൂദ്രർ—ഇവരും വർണസങ്കരരെന്നു പറയപ്പെടുന്നു; അതുപോലെ കൃമികളും ‘മ്ലേച്ഛ’ എന്നു വിളിക്കപ്പെടുന്നവരും—സങ്കീർണ്ണ പാപയോനികൾ.

Word by Word

• [{'sanskrit': 'brāhmaṇāḥ', 'meaning': 'Brahmins (members of the priestly class)'}, {'sanskrit': 'kṣattriyāḥ', 'meaning': 'Kshatriyas (members of the warrior/ruling class)'}, {'sanskrit': 'vaiśyāḥ', 'meaning': 'Vaishyas (members of the merchant/agricultural class)'}, {'sanskrit': 'śūdrāḥ', 'meaning': 'Shudras (members of the servant/laboring class)'}, {'sanskrit': 'vai', 'meaning': 'indeed

• it is said'}, {'sanskrit': 'varṇasaṃkarāḥ', 'meaning': 'mixed social classes

• mixed castes'}, {'sanskrit': 'krimayaḥ', 'meaning': 'worms

• insects (lit. ‘creeping creatures’)'}, {'sanskrit': 'ca', 'meaning': 'and'}, {'sanskrit': 'eva', 'meaning': 'just

• also'}, {'sanskrit': 'ye', 'meaning': 'who

• those who'}, {'sanskrit': 'mlecchāḥ', 'meaning': 'mlecchas (a traditional term for foreigners/non-Vedic speakers

• ‘barbarians’ in some contexts)'}, {'sanskrit': 'saṃkīrṇāḥ', 'meaning': 'mixed

• of mixed origin'}, {'sanskrit': 'pāpa', 'meaning': 'sinful

• impure (in a moral/religious sense)'}, {'sanskrit': 'yonayaḥ', 'meaning': 'wombs

Speaker

Unspecified (narrative/authorial voice; not marked as direct speech in this verse alone).

Vrata Kalpa

Vrata: none

Verse Rasa

Primary Rasa: bibhatsa

Secondary Rasa: bhayanaka

Characters & Entities

• brāhmaṇa
• kṣatriya
• vaiśya
• śūdra
• varṇa-saṃkara
• krimi (worms/insects)
• mleccha

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