Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 1, Verse 44
उत्सन्नकुलधर्माणां मनुष्याणां जनार्दन।
नरकेऽनियतं वासो भवतीत्यनुशुश्रुम।।
नरकेऽनियतं वासो भवतीत्यनुशुश्रुम।।
utsanna-kula-dharmāṇāṁ manuṣyāṇāṁ janārdana
narake ‘niyataṁ vāso bhavatītyanuśuśruma
also searched as "utsannakuladharmanam manushyanam janardana"
Translation
For those whose clan laws are destroyed, dwelling in hell is ordained, O Krishna; thus, we have heard.
Vāṇi's rendering
Men whose family dharma is destroyed — so we have always heard — dwell in hell, for how long none can say.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| उत्सन्न-कुल-धर्माणाम्utsanna-kula-dharmāṇām | of those whose family dharma has been wiped out |
| मनुष्याणाम्manuṣyāṇām | of such men |
| जनार्दनjanārdana | O Janārdana — Krishna, the one who stirs and troubles men |
| नरकेnarake | in hell |
| अनियतम्aniyatam | for no fixed span, indefinitely (narake + aniyatam joined by sandhi, marked by the avagraha) |
| वासःvāsaḥ | dwelling, residence |
| भवतिbhavati | comes to be |
| इतिiti | so, thus (bhavati + iti joined by sandhi) |
| अनुशुश्रुमanuśuśruma | we have heard, handed down to us |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 1 Verse 44 mean?
Arjuna closes his case with hearsay. Men whose family dharma is destroyed, he says, dwell in hell — and anuśuśruma, so we have heard. He is not reporting what he has seen. He is repeating what was passed to him, and treating it as settled fact strong enough to end a war.
What is the meaning of utsannakuladharmanam manushyanam janardana?
Utsanna is wiped out, uprooted. Kula-dharma is the living practice of a family — its rites, its keeping of the dead, its ordinary decencies. Arjuna imagines that practice erased by the war, and the men who erased it left without ground beneath them. He calls Krishna Janārdana, the one who troubles men, while trembling himself.
Why does Arjuna say 'we have heard' instead of stating it directly?
Because he cannot vouch for it. Anuśuśruma admits the source is tradition, not sight. Yet the borrowed dread carries more weight with him than the field in front of his eyes. Much of what paralyses you arrived the same way — received, never tested, and quietly obeyed.
Does the Gita agree that clan-destroyers go to hell forever?
Krishna never confirms it. He lets the claim stand unanswered and turns instead to the man who made it, beginning in the next chapter with what does not die at all. The verse is faithful testimony to Arjuna's terror, not a doctrine the Gītā teaches.
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Commentary
Anuśuśruma — we have heard. Arjuna's last argument is not something he knows; it is something he was told, and the telling has become his reason to drop the bow. Notice how the fear grows as it goes: first the family, then the customs, then hell itself, and now hell for a length no one can measure. Grief does this. It reaches for the largest possible consequence and calls it certain. Krishna will not answer this verse. He will answer the man making it. What you inherited as dread, you have never once examined — and you are steering your life by it.