Shloka 4

स्वर्गारोहणपर्व — तृतीयोऽध्यायः

Indra and Dharma’s Consolation; Celestial Gaṅgā Purification

Devanagari script

नादृश्यन्त च तास्तत्र यातना: पापकर्मिणाम्‌ | नदी वैतरणी चैव कूटशाल्मलिना सह

Transliteration

naadṛśyanta ca tāstatra yātanāḥ pāpakarmiṇām | nadī vaitaraṇī caiva kūṭaśālmalinā saha ||

Translation

毗湿摩耶那说道：在那里，看不见为作恶之人所设的诸般刑苦——既无筏多罗尼河，也无那可怖的带刺娑罗摩梨树。

Word by Word

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

• अदृश्यन्त: were seen / appeared
• Type: Verb
• Root: दृश्
• Form: Imperfect (Lan), 3rd, Plural, Atmanepada

• च: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च

• ताः: those (f.)
• ताः: Karta
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: तद्
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Plural

• तत्र: there
• तत्र: Adhikarana
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तत्र

• यातनाः: torments, punishments
• यातनाः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: यातना
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Plural

• पापकर्मिणाम्: of evil-doers / of those with sinful deeds
• Type: Noun
• Root: पापकर्मिन्
• Form: Masculine, Genitive, Plural

• नदी: river
• नदी: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: नदी
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Singular

• वैतरणी: Vaitaraṇī (name of the river)
• वैतरणी: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: वैतरणी
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Singular

• च: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च

• एव: indeed, also
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: एव

• कूटशाल्मलिना: with (the) Kūṭaśālmalin (tree/thorny silk-cotton, as a named object)
• कूटशाल्मलिना: Karana
• Type: Noun
• Root: कूटशाल्मलिन्
• Form: Masculine, Instrumental, Singular

• सह: together with
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: सह

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśampāyana
• Vaitaraṇī (river)
• Kūṭaśālmalī / Śālmalī (thorny tree of torment)
• pāpakarmiṇaḥ (evil-doers, sinners)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse contrasts the fate of sinners with the condition of the protagonists: the classic emblems of post-mortem punishment (Vaitaraṇī and the spiked Śālmalī) are absent, implying that severe punitive suffering is tied to pāpa (sinful action) and that those aligned with dharma are not subject to such torments.

What is happening in the narrative?

As Vaiśampāyana narrates the final journey in Svargārohaṇa, he notes that the travelers do not encounter the usual hellish ordeals associated with wrongdoers—no Vaitaraṇī river and no Kūṭaśālmalī—signaling a passage not marked by the punishments reserved for the sinful.