One fear leads to the next

Where we are

Sañjaya is still telling the blind king Dhṛtarāṣṭra what is happening on the field. In the previous reading Arjuna argued that killing his own family would be wrong, and that when a family is destroyed its age-old traditions die and disorder takes over. Now he follows that thought further, link by link, describing a chain of ruin that he says ends in hell for the family and its ancestors. If you are new: Krishna has not answered him yet; he is listening.

The verses

1. 1.41

   “Once disorder takes hold of a family, Krishna, its women are led astray. And when that happens, Vārṣṇeya, the social orders become mixed and confused.” Arjuna is voicing an old fear of his society about lineage and the breakdown of the family's place in it.

   अShow the SanskritHide the Sanskrit for verse 1.41

   अधर्माभिभवात्कृष्ण प्रदुष्यन्ति कुलस्त्रियः ।
   स्त्रीषु दुष्टासु वार्ष्णेय जायते वर्णसङ्करः ॥ ४१ ॥

   adharmābhibhavāt kṛṣṇa praduṣyanti kulastriyaḥ
   strīṣu duṣṭāsu vārṣṇeya jāyate varṇasaṃkaraḥ

   Say it

   uh-dhur-maa-bhi-bhuh-vaat krish-nuh pruh-doosh-yun-ti koo-luh-stri-yuh
   stree-shoo doosh-taa-soo vaarsh-nay-yuh jaa-yuh-tay vur-nuh-sung-kuh-ruh

   Word by word

   adharma-abhibhavāt

   because disorder overwhelms (the family)

   kṛṣṇa

   O Krishna

   praduṣyanti

   are led astray

   kula-striyaḥ

   the women of the family

   strīṣu duṣṭāsu

   when the women are led astray

   vārṣṇeya

   O Vārṣṇeya (Krishna, of the Vṛṣṇi clan)

   jāyate

   there arises

   varṇa-saṃkaraḥ

   a mixing of the social orders

2. 1.42

   “That confusion drags both the family and those who destroyed it down to hell. Even their ancestors fall from their place, because no one is left to make the offerings of rice and water for them.”

   अShow the SanskritHide the Sanskrit for verse 1.42

   सङ्करो नरकायैव कुलघ्नानां कुलस्य च ।
   पतन्ति पितरो ह्येषां लुप्तपिण्डोदकक्रियाः ॥ ४२ ॥

   saṃkaro narakāyaiva kulaghnānāṃ kulasya ca
   patanti pitaro hy eṣāṃ luptapiṇḍodakakriyāḥ

   Say it

   sung-kuh-ro nuh-ruh-kaa-yai-vuh koo-luh-ghnaa-naam koo-luh-syuh chuh
   puh-tun-ti pi-tuh-ro hy ay-shaam loop-tuh-pin-do-duh-kuh-kri-yaah

   Word by word

   saṃkaraḥ

   this confusion

   narakāya eva

   leads straight to hell

   kula-ghnānām

   for those who destroy the family

   kulasya ca

   and for the family itself

   patanti

   fall

   pitaraḥ

   the ancestors

   hi eṣām

   of these people, indeed

   lupta-piṇḍa-udaka-kriyāḥ

   deprived of the offerings of rice-balls and water

3. 1.43

   “Through these wrongs of the people who destroy families, wrongs that throw the social order into confusion, the long-standing ways of the community and of the family are wiped out.”

   अShow the SanskritHide the Sanskrit for verse 1.43

   दोषैरेतैः कुलघ्नानां वर्णसङ्करकारकैः ।
   उत्साद्यन्ते जातिधर्माः कुलधर्माश्च शाश्वताः ॥ ४३ ॥

   doṣair etaiḥ kulaghnānāṃ varṇasaṃkarakārakaiḥ
   utsādyante jātidharmāḥ kuladharmāś ca śāśvatāḥ

   Say it

   do-shair ay-taih koo-luh-ghnaa-naam vur-nuh-sung-kuh-ruh-kaa-ruh-kaih
   oot-saa-dyun-tay jaa-ti-dhur-maah koo-luh-dhur-maash chuh shaa-shvuh-taah

   Word by word

   doṣaiḥ etaiḥ

   by these wrongs

   kula-ghnānām

   of the family's destroyers

   varṇa-saṃkara-kārakaiḥ

   which cause the mixing of social orders

   utsādyante

   are wiped out

   jāti-dharmāḥ

   the duties and customs of the community

   kula-dharmāḥ ca

   and the family's duties and customs

   śāśvatāḥ

   long-lasting, age-old

4. 1.44

   “And Janārdana, we have heard it said again and again that people whose family ways have been destroyed are bound to live in hell.”

   अShow the SanskritHide the Sanskrit for verse 1.44

   उत्सन्नकुलधर्माणां मनुष्याणां जनार्दन ।
   नरके नियतं वासो भवतीत्यनुशुश्रुम ॥ ४४ ॥

   utsannakuladharmāṇāṃ manuṣyāṇāṃ janārdana
   narake niyataṃ vāso bhavatīty anuśuśruma

   Say it

   oot-sun-nuh-koo-luh-dhur-maa-naam muh-noosh-yaa-naam juh-naar-duh-nuh
   nuh-ruh-kay ni-yuh-tum vaa-so bhuh-vuh-tee-ty uh-noo-shoo-shroo-muh

   Word by word

   utsanna-kula-dharmāṇām

   whose family ways have been destroyed

   manuṣyāṇām

   of people

   janārdana

   O Janārdana (Krishna)

   narake

   in hell

   niyatam vāsaḥ

   a certain dwelling

   bhavati iti

   is, so

   anuśuśruma

   we have heard again and again

Context and commentary

Arjuna lays out a cascade: the family is destroyed, disorder rises, the women are led astray, the social orders become mixed, the ancestors lose their offerings, the old ways vanish, and everyone ends in hell. Piṇḍa is the rice-ball offering and udaka the water offering made for the dead; in the epic's world these rites kept the ancestors (pitṛs) in their place, so a family with no one left to make them was a family cut off from its past. Varṇa-saṃkara, the “mixing of social orders”, reflects the social anxieties of that time, and modern readers, including many within the tradition, are uneasy with how these verses link it to women's conduct. It helps to remember who is speaking: this is Arjuna in distress, not Krishna teaching. Interpretation: Śaṅkara and other classical commentators read these verses as a grieving mind reaching for scripture and custom to justify retreat; note the last word, anuśuśruma, “we have heard”, meaning he is repeating what he was told, not what he has seen. Rāmānuja and devotional readers hear genuine care for family and ancestors in Arjuna's words. Gandhi read the whole battlefield as the inner struggle in each person, where these fears become the voices that argue against doing the hard right thing. Krishna's reply in Chapter 2 does not take up this chain point by point; he questions the state of mind behind it.