Арджуна
यद्य् एतद् एवं संग्रामे न कुर्यां पुरुषर्षभाः ॥
मा स्म पुण्यकृतां लोकान् प्राप्नुयां शूरसंमतान् ॥
ये लोका मातृहन्तॄणां ये चापि पितृघातिनाम् ॥
गुरुदारगामिनां ये च पिशुनानां च ये तथा ॥
साधून् असूयतां ये च ये चापि परिवादिनाम् ॥
ये च निक्षेपहर्तॄणां ये च विश्वासघातिनाम् ॥
yady etad evaṃ saṃgrāme na kuryāṃ puruṣarṣabhāḥ ||
mā sma puṇyakṛtāṃ lokān prāpnuyāṃ śūrasaṃmatān ||
ye lokā mātṛhantṝṇāṃ ye cāpi pitṛghātinām ||
gurudāragāmināṃ ye ca piśunānāṃ ca ye tathā ||
sādhūn asūyatāṃ ye ca ye cāpi parivādinām ||
ye ca nikṣepahartṝṇāṃ ye ca viśvāsaghātinām ||
metre not identified
"If I do not accomplish this in battle, O bull-like men, may I never attain the worlds of the righteous, honored by heroes — but instead the fate of those whose worlds are the worlds of matricides and patricides, of defilers of the teacher's bed, of tale-bearers, of those who envy the righteous, of the foul-tongued, of those who appropriate what was entrusted to them, of betrayers of trust..."
dc5d2d1536f0 · published Jul 19, 2026, 3:36:52 PM UTC
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The vow is sealed by the most terrible self-condemnation: should he fail, Arjuna consigns himself to the fate of the gravest sinners. The list — 'mātṛhantṝṇām... pitṛghātinām... viśvāsaghātinām,' matricides, patricides, betrayers of trust — is no rhetoric but a measure of the vow's gravity: he stakes his very salvation in the world to come. It is telling that among the first sins named are betrayal of parents and of trust — precisely what Jayadratha is guilty of. The verse teaches that a true vow is never spoken lightly: by binding himself to the fate of the worst of men, the one who swears it makes retreat impossible, for the price is no longer life but eternity.