Shloka 19
Varṇasaṃkara: Causes, Classifications, and Conduct-based Recognition (वर्णसंकरः—हेतु-जाति-आचारनिर्णयः)
सप्तावरे महाघोरे निरये कालसाह्वये । स्वेदं मूत्र पुरीषं च तस्मिन् मूढ: समश्ुते
saptāvare mahāghore niraye kālasāhvaye | svedaṃ mūtra-purīṣaṃ ca tasmin mūḍhaḥ samaśnute ||
Bhīṣma berkata: “Di neraka yang amat mengerikan bernama Kāla (Kālasūtra), yang lebih buruk daripada tujuh neraka yang dahsyat, si pendosa yang tersesat dipaksa memakan peluh, air kencing, dan najisnya sendiri.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse condemns greed-driven trafficking within one’s own family—selling a son or selling a maiden for payment—as a severe adharma. It teaches that such acts destroy moral order and invite extreme karmic retribution, symbolized by degradation and self-defilement in hell.
Bhīṣma is instructing Yudhiṣṭhira in the Anuśāsana Parva on righteous conduct and the consequences of grave sins. Here he describes a specific hell (Kālasūtra/Kāla) and the humiliating punishment awaiting those who commodify their children for wealth or livelihood.