Shloka 30
Babhruvāhana’s Lament and Appeal for Expiation (प्रायश्चित्त-याचना)
शिर:कपाले चास्यैव युज्जत: पितुरद्य मे । प्रायक्षित्तं हि नास्त्यन्यद्धत्वाद्य पितरं मम
śiraḥkapāle cāsyāiva yujjataḥ pitur adya me | prāyaścittaṃ hi nāsty anyad dhatvādya pitaraṃ mama ||
ਵੈਸ਼ੰਪਾਯਨ ਨੇ ਆਖਿਆ— “ਅੱਜ ਆਪਣੇ ਪਿਤਾ ਨੂੰ ਮਾਰਣ ਤੋਂ ਬਾਅਦ ਮੇਰੇ ਲਈ ਹੋਰ ਕੋਈ ਪ੍ਰਾਯਸ਼ਚਿੱਤ ਨਹੀਂ। ਮੇਰਾ ਤਪ ਇਹੀ ਹੈ— ਪਿਤਾ ਦੀ ਖਾਲ ਨਾਲ ਆਪਣੇ ਆਪ ਨੂੰ ਢੱਕ ਕੇ, ਉਸ ਦਾ ਸਿਰ ਅਤੇ ਕਪਾਲ ਧਾਰਨ ਕਰਦਾ ਭਟਕਦਾ ਰਹਾਂ।”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the gravity of violating dharma through patricide and frames expiation (prāyaścitta) as a severe, identity-marking penance. It underscores moral accountability: some acts are so destructive that only harsh, long-term self-discipline and public bearing of the consequence is considered fitting.
A speaker, reported by Vaiśampāyana, declares that after killing his father he sees no alternative expiation. He proposes a grim penance: to cover himself with the father’s skin and to wander while carrying the father’s head and skull, signaling both remorse and the enormity of the deed.