Shloka 48

Devanagari script

तया स काये निर्दग्धे मृत्युं वा प्राप्प शुद्धयति । लोकांश्व लभते विप्रो नान्‍न्यथा लभते हि सः,मदिरा पीनेवाला पुरुष यदि मदिराको खूब गरम करके पी ले तो पापसे छुटकारा पा जाता है, अथवा उससे शरीर जल जानेके कारण उसकी मृत्यु हो जाय तो वह शुद्ध हो जाता है। इस प्रकार शुद्ध हो जानेपर ही वह ब्राह्मण शुद्ध लोकोंको प्राप्त कर सकता है, अन्यथा नहीं

Transliteration

tayā sa kāye nirdagdhe mṛtyuṃ vā prāpya śuddhyati | lokāṃś ca labhate vipro nānyathā labhate hi saḥ ||

Translation

भीष्म म्हणाले—त्या (उष्ण वारुणी) मुळे त्याचे शरीर जर भाजून निघाले, तर—त्यातून मृत्यू आला तरी किंवा तो वाचला तरी—तो शुद्ध होतो. अशा शुद्धीनंतरच तो ब्राह्मण शुद्ध लोकांना प्राप्त होतो; अन्यथा तो त्यांना प्राप्त करत नाही.

Word by Word

तयाby that (means)

सःhe

कायेin the body

निर्दग्धेwhen (it is) burnt up

मृत्युम्death

वाor

प्राप्यhaving attained

शुद्ध्यतिbecomes purified

लोकान्worlds

चand

लभतेobtains

विप्रःthe brahmin

नnot

अन्यथाotherwise

लभतेobtains

हिindeed

सःhe

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhīṣma

vipra (brāhmaṇa)

madirā (liquor) (implied by context)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse teaches that grave transgressions require a corresponding expiation (prāyaścitta). Only through genuine purification—here described as a severe penance involving bodily burning or even death—can a brāhmaṇa regain eligibility for ‘pure worlds’; without purification, such spiritual attainment is denied.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma is instructing Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and expiations. Here he states a rule about purification after the sin of drinking liquor: if the offender drinks it heated so that the body is scorched (and whether he dies or survives), he is considered purified; only then can he attain higher realms.