Shloka 14
Adhyāya 108: Paścima-dik—Varuṇa’s Realm, Sunset Cosmology, and Sacred-Geographic Markers
Suparṇa–Gālava संवाद
अत्र दुष्कृतकर्माणो नरा: पच्यन्ति गालव । अत्र वैतरणी नाम नदी वितरणैर्वृता
atra duṣkṛtakarmāṇo narāḥ pacyante gālava | atra vaitaraṇī nāma nadī vitaraṇair vṛtā ||
अत्र दुष्कृतकर्माणो नराः पच्यन्ति गालव । अत्र वैतरणी नाम नदी वितरणैर्वृता ॥
युपर्ण उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches karmic moral causality: harmful, unrighteous actions (duṣkṛta-karma) mature into suffering, depicted vividly as hellfire and the infernal river Vaitaraṇī. Ethical conduct is thus not merely social but cosmically consequential.
Yūparṇa addresses Gālava, pointing out a region associated with the southern direction and hells, where sinners are punished and where the river Vaitaraṇī lies, surrounded by those destined for that infernal passage—an illustrative tour of the consequences of wrongdoing.