Shloka 30

Devanagari script

स्त्रियास्तथापचारिण्या निष्कृति: स्याददूषिका । अपि सा पूयते तेन न तु भर्ता प्रदुष्पति,यदि व्यभिचारिणी स्त्रीका तिरस्कार किया जाय तो वह दोषकी बात नहीं है। उस तिरस्कारसे स्त्रीकी तो शुद्धि होती है और पति भी दोषका भागी नहीं होता

Transliteration

striyās tathāpācāriṇyā niṣkṛtiḥ syād adūṣikā | api sā pūyate tena na tu bhartā praduṣpati |

Translation

Вьяса сказал: «Если женщина вела себя неподобающе, то отречение от неё или общественное порицание является безупречной формой искупления (праяшчитта). Самим этим порицанием она считается очищенной, и муж не оскверняется её проступком».

Word by Word

स्त्रियाःof a woman

तथाthus/so

अपचारिण्याःof a transgressing (misbehaving) woman

निष्कृतिःexpiation/atonement

स्यात्would be / should be

अदूषिकाblameless / not faulty

अपिeven/also

साshe

पूयतेis purified

तेनby that/thereby

नnot

तुbut

भर्ताhusband

प्रदुष्पतिis tainted / becomes defiled

Speaker

व्यास उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vyāsa

wife (strī)

husband (bhartā)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames repudiation/censure of a wife who has committed serious misconduct as a socially and ethically permissible expiation: it is said to cleanse her standing while preventing the husband from sharing in the moral taint of her act.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Śānti Parva’s dharma-discourse, Vyāsa states a rule concerning household ethics: when a woman is guilty of improper conduct, the husband’s act of rejecting or censuring her is presented as a legitimate corrective measure, with the stated effect of purification and non-contamination of the husband.