Mahabharata — Vana Parva, Shloka 102

Dharma-vyādha’s Analysis of Moral Decline and the Mahābhūta–Guṇa Schema (धर्मव्याधोपदेशः)

Devanagari script

न हि पापानि कर्माणि शुद्धयबन्त्यनशनादिभि: । सीदत्यनशनादेव मांसशोणितलेपन:

Transliteration

na hi pāpāni karmāṇi śuddhyanty anaśanādibhiḥ | sīdaty anaśanād eva māṃsaśoṇitalepanaḥ ||

Translation

Yudhiṣṭhira nói: “Những nghiệp tội không được gột sạch chỉ bằng nhịn ăn và các khổ hạnh tương tự. Kẻ bị bôi nhơ bởi thịt và máu thì chỉ hao mòn đi nếu chỉ nhịn ăn mà thôi.”

Word by Word

• न: not
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: न

• हि: indeed/for
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: हि

• पापानि: sinful
• पापानि: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: पाप
• Form: neuter, nominative, plural

• कर्माणि: actions/deeds
• कर्माणि: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: कर्मन्
• Form: neuter, nominative, plural

• शुध्यन्ति: become purified
• Type: Verb
• Root: शुध्
• Form: present, 3rd, plural, parasmaipada

• अनशनादिभिः: by fasting and the like
• अनशनादिभिः: Karana
• Type: Noun
• Root: अनशन-आदि
• Form: masculine, instrumental, plural

• सीदति: wastes away/sinks
• Type: Verb
• Root: सद्
• Form: present, 3rd, singular, parasmaipada

• अनशनात्: from fasting
• अनशनात्: Apadana
• Type: Noun
• Root: अनशन
• Form: neuter, ablative, singular

• एव: only/indeed
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: एव

• मांसशोणितलेपनः: one smeared with flesh and blood
• मांसशोणितलेपनः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: मांस-शोणित-लेपन
• Form: masculine, nominative, singular

Speaker

युधिछिर उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Yudhiṣṭhira

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

External austerities like fasting do not by themselves erase the moral weight of wrongdoing; true purification requires appropriate atonement and ethical transformation, not mere self-starvation.

What is happening in the narrative?

Yudhiṣṭhira reflects on the limits of ascetic practices as a means of expiating grave faults, warning that fasting alone only weakens a person still stained by violent or sinful deeds.