Mahabharata 7.17.32 — Drona Parva, Adhyaya 17, Shloka 32
Saṃśaptakas in Candrārdha-vyūha; Arjuna’s Devadatta and the Traigarta Rout
Chapter 17
स्वभार्यामृतुकालेषु मोहाद् वै नाभिगच्छताम् । श्राद्धमैथुनिकानां च ये चाप्यात्मापहारिणाम्
svabhāryām ṛtukāleṣu mohād vai nābhigacchatām | śrāddha-maithunikānāṁ ca ye cāpy ātmāpahāriṇām ||
सञ्जय उवाच—स्वभार्यामृतुकालेषु मोहाद् वै नाभिगच्छतां, श्राद्धमैथुनिकानां च, ये चाप्यात्मापहारिणः—एते महापातकिनः संख्याताः।
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights dharmic boundaries for a householder: neglecting conjugal duty during the proper season out of delusion, violating the sanctity of śrāddha by sexual indulgence, and acts of self-destruction are treated as serious ethical transgressions with grave consequences.
In the Drona Parva war setting, Sañjaya reports a forceful moral warning: warriors invoke the fear of falling into sinful destinies, equating cowardice or failure in their martial resolve with the fate of notorious sinners—here listing specific condemned behaviors, including those named in this verse.
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