Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 1, Verse 40
कुलक्षये प्रणश्यन्ति कुलधर्माः सनातनाः।
धर्मे नष्टे कुलं कृत्स्नमधर्मोऽभिभवत्युत।।
धर्मे नष्टे कुलं कृत्स्नमधर्मोऽभिभवत्युत।।
kula-kṣaye praṇaśyanti kula-dharmāḥ sanātanāḥ
dharme naṣṭe kulaṁ kṛtsnam adharmo ’bhibhavaty uta
also searched as "Kulakshaye pranashyanti kuladharmah sanatanah"
Translation
With the ruin of a clan, its ancient traditions perish, and when traditions perish, lawlessness overtakes the whole clan.
Vāṇi's rendering
When a family is destroyed, its ancient dharma dies — and adharma overtakes everyone left.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| कुलक्षयेkula-kṣaye | when a family is destroyed |
| प्रणश्यन्तिpraṇaśyanti | perish, die out |
| कुलधर्माःkula-dharmāḥ | the family's ways of living rightly |
| सनातनाःsanātanāḥ | ancient, handed down without break |
| धर्मेdharme | when dharma |
| नष्टेnaṣṭe | is lost |
| कुलम्kulam | the family |
| कृत्स्नम्kṛtsnam | entire, all of it |
| अधर्मःadharmaḥ | lawlessness (sandhi: adharmaḥ + abhibhavati becomes adharmo 'bhibhavati) |
| अभिभवतिabhibhavati | overtakes, overwhelms |
| उतuta | indeed, and moreover |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 1 Verse 40 mean?
Arjuna says that when a family is wiped out, the ancient dharma it carried is wiped out with it, and adharma floods in to fill the space. He is describing how a way of life is transmitted — by living people, to living people. Break the chain and nothing remains to teach the next ones how to stand.
What does kulakshaye pranashyanti kuladharmah sanatanah mean?
In the ruin of a family, its immemorial dharma perishes. Sanātana here does not mean untouchable — it means long-held, carried across generations without a gap. Arjuna's point is that even the oldest things are fragile, because they live only in the people who practise them.
Is Arjuna right in this verse?
Yes, and that is what makes it difficult. Krishna never says the reasoning is false. He says the reasoner is confused. A correct argument can still be an argument you reached for because you were afraid, and the Gītā spends seven hundred verses on that difference rather than on the argument itself.
Why does Arjuna talk about family tradition before a battle?
Because grief looks for a respectable shape. He cannot say plainly that he is unable to lift the bow, so he speaks of collapse, of children, of the ruin of everything held sacred. The concern is real. The timing tells you what it is doing. Notice when your own principles arrive suddenly and conveniently.
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Commentary
Arjuna is building a case. He has moved from grief to argument, and the argument is good — destroy the family and the family's way of living dies with it; children grow up with no one to show them the shape of a life. He is right. He is also using a truth to avoid a decision. Watch how the mind does this: when it does not want to act, it turns far-sighted, and every road ahead fills with ruin. Krishna will not dispute a single link in this chain. He will ask who is speaking. When your reasons multiply, count them — then ask what they are protecting.