Shloka 34

Prāyaścitta-vidhāna: Tapas, Dāna, Vrata, and Proportional Expiation (प्रायश्चित्तविधानम्)

Devanagari script

देवानषीन्‌ मनुष्यांश्व पितृन्‌ गृह्माश्व देवता:

Transliteration

devān ṛṣīn manuṣyāṁś ca pitṝn gṛhyāṁś ca devatāḥ

Translation

ویاس نے کہا—دیوتا تمام طبقاتِ موجودات کو اپنے احاطے میں لے کر سنبھالتے اور قائم رکھتے ہیں—دیوتاؤں کو، رِشیوں کو، انسانوں کو، پِتروں کو، اور گھریلو دیوتاؤں و نگہبان (ادھِشٹھاتری) قوتوں کو بھی؛ یہی دھرم کی کائناتی ترتیب ہے۔

Word by Word

• देवान्: the gods
• देवान्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: देव
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Plural

• ऋषीन्: the sages
• ऋषीन्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: ऋषि
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Plural

• मनुष्यांश्च: and the humans
• मनुष्यांश्च: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: मनुष्य
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Plural

• पितॄन्: the ancestors (Pitṛs)
• पितॄन्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: पितृ
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Plural

• गृह्मान्: the householders (reading uncertain)
• गृह्मान्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: गृह्म
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Plural

• देवताः: the deities
• देवताः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: देवता
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Plural

Speaker

व्यास उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vyāsa
• Devas (gods)
• Ṛṣis (sages)
• Manuṣyas (humans)
• Pitṛs (ancestors)
• Devatās (deities/presiding powers)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Dharma operates across multiple planes: humans are ethically and ritually connected to sages (knowledge), ancestors (gratitude and continuity), and deities (cosmic governance). Right conduct therefore includes honoring these relationships through duty, restraint, and appropriate rites.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vyāsa is enumerating categories of beings/powers—gods, sages, humans, ancestors, and household presiding deities—to frame a teaching in Śānti Parva that situates human conduct within a wider sacred and moral ecology.