Shloka 47

Prāyaścitta and Contextual Non-Culpability (प्रायश्चित्त-निमित्त-अदोषवाद)

Devanagari script

नास्तिकाश्रद्दधानेषु पुरुषेषु कदाचन । दम्भद्वेषप्रधानेषु विधिरेष न दृश्यते,जिनमें दम्भ और द्वेषकी प्रधानता है, उन नास्तिक और श्रद्धाहीन पुरुषोंके लिये कभी ऐसे प्रायक्षित्तका विधान नहीं देखा जाता है

Transliteration

nāstikāśraddadhāneṣu puruṣeṣu kadācana | dambhadveṣapradhāneṣu vidhireṣa na dṛśyate ||

Translation

जे नास्तिक व श्रद्धाहीन पुरुष आहेत, ज्यांच्यात दंभ व द्वेष यांचेच प्राबल्य आहे—त्यांच्यासाठी असे प्रायश्चित्ताचे विधान कधीही दिसून येत नाही.

Word by Word

नnot

आस्तिकin believers (theistic persons)

अश्रद्दधानin the faithless / not having faith

पुरुषin men/persons

कदाचनever; at any time

दम्भin hypocrisy/ostentation

द्वेषin hatred

प्रधानpredominant; chiefly given to

विधिinjunction; rule; ordinance

एषthis

नnot

दृश्यतेis seen; is found

Speaker

व्यास उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vyāsa

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?

Expiation (prāyaścitta) is not merely a ritual mechanism; it presupposes faith, honesty, and a genuine intention to reform. Where atheism, lack of faith, hypocrisy, and hatred dominate, the tradition does not recognize an effective ordinance of atonement, because the inner condition required for moral repair is absent.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Śānti Parva’s dharma-discourse, Vyāsa states a limiting principle about prāyaścitta: certain dispositions—especially disbelief, faithlessness, hypocrisy, and malice—make a person unfit for the intended transformative function of expiatory rules.