प्रह्लाद उवाच
त्वं वै धर्मस्य विज्ञाता दैवस्येहासुरस्य च ॥
ब्राह्मणस्य महाप्राज्ञ धर्मकृच्छ्रम् इदं शृणु ॥
यो वै प्रश्नं न विब्रूयाद् वितथं वापि निर्दिशेत् ॥
के वै तस्य परे लोकास् तन् ममाचक्ष्व पृच्छतः ॥
कश्यप उवाच
जानन् न विब्रुवन् प्रश्नं कामात् क्रोधात् तथा भयात् ॥
सहस्रं वारुणान् पाशान् आत्मनि प्रतिमुञ्चति ॥
तस्य संवत्सरे पूर्णे पाश एकः प्रमुच्यते ॥
तस्मात् सत्यं तु वक्तव्यं जानता सत्यम् अञ्जसा ॥
विद्धो धर्मो ह्य् अधर्मेण सभां यत्र प्रपद्यते ॥
न चास्य शल्यं कृन्तन्ति विद्धास् तत्र सभासदः ॥
अर्धं हरति वै श्रेष्ठः पादो भवति कर्तृषु ॥
पादश् चैव सभासत्सु ये न निन्दन्ति निन्दितम् ॥
अनेना भवति श्रेष्ठो मुच्यन्ते च सभासदः ॥
एनो गच्छति कर्तारं निन्दार्हो यत्र निन्द्यते ॥
वितथं तु वदेयुर् ये धर्मं प्रह्लाद पृच्छते ॥
इष्टापूर्तं च ते घ्नन्ति सप्त चैव परावरान् ॥
prahlāda uvāca
tvaṃ vai dharmasya vijñātā daivasyehāsurasya ca ||
brāhmaṇasya mahāprājña dharmakṛcchram idaṃ śṛṇu ||
yo vai praśnaṃ na vibrūyād vitathaṃ vāpi nirdiśet ||
ke vai tasya pare lokās tan mamācakṣva pṛcchataḥ ||
kaśyapa uvāca
jānan na vibruvan praśnaṃ kāmāt krodhāt tathā bhayāt ||
sahasraṃ vāruṇān pāśān ātmani pratimuñcati ||
tasya saṃvatsare pūrṇe pāśa ekaḥ pramucyate ||
tasmāt satyaṃ tu vaktavyaṃ jānatā satyam añjasā ||
viddho dharmo hy adharmeṇa sabhāṃ yatra prapadyate ||
na cāsya śalyaṃ kṛntanti viddhās tatra sabhāsadaḥ ||
ardhaṃ harati vai śreṣṭhaḥ pādo bhavati kartṛṣu ||
pādaś caiva sabhāsatsu ye na nindanti ninditam ||
anenā bhavati śreṣṭho mucyante ca sabhāsadaḥ ||
eno gacchati kartāraṃ nindārho yatra nindyate ||
vitathaṃ tu vadeyur ye dharmaṃ prahlāda pṛcchate ||
iṣṭāpūrtaṃ ca te ghnanti sapta caiva parāvarān ||
[Prahlada to Kashyapa:] "You are the knower of dharma — divine, human, and demonic; O most wise one, hear this hard case of dharma: what higher worlds await one who fails to resolve a question, or answers it falsely? Tell me, who ask you." [Kashyapa:] "Whoever, knowing, fails to resolve a question out of desire, anger, or fear, binds upon himself a thousand nooses of Varuna; and only when a full year has passed is a single noose released. Therefore the one who knows the truth must speak it directly. Where dharma, pierced by lawlessness, enters the assembly, and those seated there do not draw out its barb, they themselves are pierced. Half the sin is borne away by the elder, a quarter falls upon those who commit the wrong, and a quarter upon those in the assembly who do not condemn what deserves condemnation. But the elder remains sinless, and those seated are set free, when the sin goes to the one who commits it, and what deserves censure is censured. But those who speak dharma falsely to one who asks, O Prahlada, destroy the fruits of sacrifices and gifts, and seven generations of ancestors and descendants."
0e48c1f486a5 · published Jul 16, 2026, 4:12:36 PM UTC
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Kashyapa raises the law of the assembly to a universal one: he who stays silent before trampled truth is no bystander, but a bound prisoner of Varuna, and his bonds are not released for years. The apportioning of guilt — half to the elder, a quarter each to those who commit the wrong and those who stay silent — reveals that complicity in wrongdoing takes many forms: both the one who does the deed and the one who, seeing it, keeps silent share in the sin. But the same law also grants deliverance: whoever condemns what deserves condemnation lifts the guilt from himself and frees the assembly. The verse teaches that the word of truth in the hour of judgment is not only a duty but a salvation — for the one who speaks it and for all who hear; while silence destroys not only the one who is silent but his lineage as well. Vidura holds up this mirror before the Kauravas, but they do not look into it.