Mahabharata 1.173.43 — Adi Parva, Adhyaya 173, Shloka 43

कल्माषपाद-शाप-कारणम्

Cause of Kalmāṣapāda’s Niyoga under a Curse

Devanagari script

तत्‌ क्षुधार्तर्निरासहारै: शवभूतैस्तथा नरैः । अभवत्‌ प्रेतराजस्य पुरं प्रेतेरिवावृतम्‌

Transliteration

tat kṣudhārtair nirāhāraiḥ śavabhūtaiḥ tathā naraiḥ | abhavat pretarājasya puraṃ preter ivāvṛtam ||

Translation

ครั้นแล้วนครนั้นก็แน่นขนัดด้วยผู้คนที่ถูกความหิวโหยบีบคั้น ไร้อาหาร จนเสมือนศพทั้งเป็น เมื่อเต็มไปด้วยโครงกระดูกที่ยังมีลมหายใจ นครนั้นจึงดูประหนึ่งนครของพระยม ราชาแห่งผู้ล่วงลับ ราวกับถูกวิญญาณรายล้อมอยู่ทุกทิศ

Word by Word

• तत्: that (city/condition)
• तत्: Karta
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: तद्
• Form: Neuter, Nominative/Accusative, Singular

• क्षुधा-आर्त-निरास-आहारैः: by those whose food was (only) abstinence, distressed by hunger
• क्षुधा-आर्त-निरास-आहारैः: Karana
• Type: Adjective
• Root: क्षुधा + आर्त + निरास + आहार
• Form: Masculine, Instrumental, Plural

• शव-भूतैः: by men become like corpses
• शव-भूतैः: Karana
• Type: Adjective
• Root: शव + भूत
• Form: Masculine, Instrumental, Plural

• तथा: thus/also
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तथा

• नरैः: by men
• नरैः: Karana
• Type: Noun
• Root: नर
• Form: Masculine, Instrumental, Plural

• अभवत्: became/was
• Type: Verb
• Root: भू
• Form: Imperfect (Lan), 3rd, Singular, Parasmaipada

• प्रेत-राजस्य: of the king of the departed (Yama)
• प्रेत-राजस्य: Sambandha
• Type: Noun
• Root: प्रेत + राज
• Form: Masculine, Genitive, Singular

• पुरम्: city
• पुरम्: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: पुर
• Form: Neuter, Nominative, Singular

• प्रेतैः: by/with ghosts (departed spirits)
• प्रेतैः: Karana
• Type: Noun
• Root: प्रेत
• Form: Masculine, Instrumental, Plural

• इव: as if/like
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: इव

• आवृतम्: covered/surrounded
• Type: Verb
• Root: आ-√वृ (वृञ् आवरणे)
• Form: क्त (past passive participle), Neuter, Nominative, Singular

Speaker

वसिष्ठ उवाच

Characters & Entities

• वसिष्ठ (Vasiṣṭha)
• प्रेतराज (Pretarāja/Yama)
• पुर (city)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

When basic sustenance fails, human beings easily slip from dharmic restraint into a condition resembling death itself; the verse uses stark imagery to warn that social order and ethical conduct depend upon responsible governance and the protection of life’s necessities.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vasiṣṭha describes a city overwhelmed by famine: people, starving and without food, become like corpses. The city’s appearance is compared to Yama’s abode, as though encircled by spirits, emphasizing the severity of the calamity.