Shloka 33

कर्णनिधनवृत्तान्तनिवेदनम् | Reporting Karṇa’s Fall to Yudhiṣṭhira

Devanagari script

विवाहकाले रतिसम्प्रयोगे प्राणात्यये सर्वधनापहारे । विप्रस्य चार्थे हानृतं वदेत पज्चानृतान्याहुरपातकानि,विवाहकालमें, स्त्रीप्रसंगके समय, किसीके प्राणोंपर संकट आनेपर, सर्वस्वका अपहरण होते समय तथा ब्राह्मणकी भलाईके लिये आवश्यकता हो तो असत्य बोल दे; इन पाँच अवसरोंपर झूठ बोलनेसे पाप नहीं होता

Transliteration

vivāhakāle ratisamprayoge prāṇātyaye sarvadhanāpahāre | viprasya cārthe hānṛtaṃ vadet pañcānṛtāny āhur apātakāni ||

Translation

Śrī Kṛṣṇa nói: “Vào lúc thành hôn, trong bối cảnh giao hợp, khi sinh mạng lâm nguy, khi toàn bộ tài sản bị cướp đoạt, và khi cần thiết vì phúc lợi của một bà-la-môn—người ta có thể nói điều không thật. Những lời không thật nói trong năm trường hợp ấy được tuyên là không mang tội.”

Word by Word

• {'vivāha-kāla': 'time of marriage

• wedding occasion', 'rati-samprayoga': 'sexual union

• intimate intercourse', 'prāṇa-atyaya': 'peril to life

• threat of death', 'sarva-dhana-apahāra': 'seizure/abduction of all wealth

• total robbery', 'viprasya arthe': 'for the sake/benefit of a brāhmaṇa', 'hānṛtam': 'untruth

• false statement (lit. ‘not-truth’)', 'vadet': 'one should say/speak', 'pañca': 'five', 'anṛtāni': 'untruths

• falsehoods', 'āhuḥ': 'they say

• they declare', 'apātakāni': 'not a sin/offense

Speaker

श्रीकृष्ण उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Śrī Kṛṣṇa
• vipra (brāhmaṇa)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse teaches that truthfulness is a central norm, yet dharma recognizes rare emergency or socially protected contexts where speaking an untruth may be ethically permitted and treated as non-sinful—especially to prevent grave harm (loss of life or total ruin) or to secure a brāhmaṇa’s welfare.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Karṇa Parva, amid the moral strain of the Kurukṣetra war, Śrī Kṛṣṇa articulates a principle of situational ethics (āpaddharma), clarifying that rigid adherence to literal truth can be overridden in specific circumstances to protect higher values such as life, social order, and urgent welfare.