Bhagavad Gita · Arjuna Vishada YogaChapter 1, Shloka 43 (1.43)
Original Sanskrit · अर्जुनः
दोषैरेतैः कुलघ्नानां वर्णसङ्करकारकैः
उत्साद्यन्ते जातिधर्माः कुलधर्माश्च शाश्वताः
॥ 1.43 ॥
doṣairetaiḥ kulaghnānāṃ varṇasaṅkarakārakaiḥ
utsādyante jātidharmāḥ kuladharmāśca śāśvatāḥ
Translation
"(According to Arjuna,) through these wrongs of the family-destroyers, which cause varna-sankara, the dharma of the community and the age-old dharma of the family are uprooted."
Interpretation
Destruction at two levels. Arjuna speaks of two kinds of dharma: jāti-dharma — the shared duties and norms of a larger community (Madhusudana: connected with being a kshatriya and so on); and kula-dharma — the traditions of a particular family. War uproots both — at the level of society as well as at the level of the family.
"Utsādyante" — they are uprooted. The sense of the word is like pulling a tree out by its roots. Madhusudana: utsannāḥ kriyante, vināśyanta ity arthaḥ — they are destroyed.
"Śāśvatāḥ" — handed down from of old. "Sanatana" in 1.40 and "shashvata" here — both convey "old, stable, of the generations". Arjuna feels that what has come down through the centuries will be ended in a single war.
The meaning of the repetition. This shloka is less a new argument and more a restatement of the earlier ones. In sorrow, and in trying to strengthen an argument, Arjuna repeats the same point again. (This is our interpretation.)
This is Arjuna's argument. Special care is needed with the word "jati-dharma": this is the language of the social order of Arjuna's time. To treat this shloka as support for today's caste-based discrimination would be an injustice to its context (see the note on 1.41).
AI-assisted draft translation — under review.