1.42
सङ्करो नरकायैव कुलघ्नानां कुलस्य च ।
पतन्ति पितरो ह्येषां लुप्तपिण्डोदकक्रियाः ॥
saṅkaro narakāyaiva kulaghnānāṃ kulasya ca
patanti pitaro hy eṣāṃ luptapiṇḍodaka-kriyāḥ
The ancestors. The chain reaches the dead.
The verse
That confusion leads to hell for the killers of the family and for the family. Their ancestors fall, the offerings of rice-ball and water having ceased.
नेपालीमा
त्यो गोलमाल कुल मार्नेहरूलाई र कुललाई नरकमा लैजान्छ। पिण्ड र पानीको अर्पण रोकिएपछि यिनीहरूका पितापुर्खा खस्छन्।
Where it sits
He has extended the victim list past the men on the field to the dead, who depend on the living for food and water in the rite. Killing cousins, in this picture, starves grandfathers. It is the widest version of svajanam (स्वजनम्). The fear is not only of doing a wrong. It is of undoing the maintenance of the world he understands.
Split: सङ्करः + नरकाय + एव + कुल-घ्नानाम् + कुलस्य + च + पतन्ति + पितरः + हि + एषाम् + लुप्त-पिण्ड-उदक-क्रियाः
saṅkaraḥ + narakāya + eva + kula-ghnānām + kulasya + ca + patanti + pitaraḥ + hi + eṣām + lupta-piṇḍa-udaka-kriyāḥ
Sanskrit, in depth
The words
| देवनागरी | Word | Grammar | Sense |
|---|---|---|---|
| सङ्करः | saṅkaraḥ | nominative | the confusion. varṇasaṅkara (वर्णसङ्कर) from 1.41. |
| नरकाय | narakāya | dative | for hell, unto hell. |
| कुल-घ्नानाम् | kula-ghnānām | genitive plural | of the killers of the family. |
| कुलस्य | kulasya | genitive | of the family. |
| पतन्ति | patanti | present, 3rd plural | they fall. |
| पितरः | pitaraḥ | nominative plural | the ancestors, the fathers. |
| हि | hi | indeclinable | for, indeed. |
| एषाम् | eṣām | genitive plural | of these. Of the family-killers and the family. |
| लुप्त-पिण्ड-उदक-क्रियाः | lupta-piṇḍa-udaka-kriyāḥ | nominative plural, bahuvrīhi (बहुव्रीहि) | men whose offerings of piṇḍa (पिण्ड) and water have lapsed. |
The phrases
saṅkaraḥ narakāya eva (सङ्करः नरकाय एव) is where the confusion leads. Unto hell itself. नरकाय + एव narakāya + eva becomes narakāyaiva (नरकायैव). The dative is the destination.
kulaghnānāṃ kulasya ca (कुलघ्नानां कुलस्य च) says whose hell. Of the killers of the family, and of the family. Both genitives. He includes the house, not only the men who destroy it.
patanti pitaraḥ hi eṣām (पतन्ति पितरः हि एषाम्) is the second sentence. Their ancestors fall. hi (हि) presents this as the reason the hell-sentence is true. पितरः + हि pitaraḥ + hi becomes pitaro hi (पितरो हि), and हि + एषाम् hi + eṣām is ह्य् एषाम् hy eṣām.
luptapiṇḍodakakriyāḥ (लुप्तपिण्डोदकक्रियाः) describes those ancestors. The rites of the rice-ball and the water have stopped, so the fathers fall. piṇḍa (पिण्ड) is the offering to the dead. udaka (उदक) is the water. kriyā (क्रिया) is the rite. lupta (लुप्त) is "broken off, lapsed." A bahuvrīhi (बहुव्रीहि): ancestors for whom those rites have lapsed.
Sanskrit in this line
The dative --āya (आय) answers "for, unto." naraka (नरक) becomes narakāya (नरकाय). It is not the locative "in hell," which would be narake (नरके), the form waiting in 1.44. Dative here is aim and result: the confusion is headed there. When he says narake (नरके) in 1.44, the ancestors and the killers will already be in it.
luptapiṇḍodakakriyāḥ (लुप्तपिण्डोदकक्रियाः) is a long bahuvrīhi (बहुव्रीहि). Start at the end. kriyāḥ (क्रियाः), rites, which are lupta (लुप्त), lapsed, and the rites are of piṇḍa (पिण्ड) and udaka (उदक). The compound describes the ancestors. It does not have its own verb. patanti (पतन्ति) is the verb.
Say it back
Who goes to hell, and why the ancestors fall. Undo the long compound from the end.