Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 16, Verse 4
दम्भो दर्पोऽभिमानश्च क्रोधः पारुष्यमेव च।अज्ञानं चाभिजातस्य पार्थ सम्पदमासुरीम्।।
dambho darpo ’bhimānaś ca krodhaḥ pāruṣyam eva ca
ajñānaṁ cābhijātasya pārtha sampadam āsurīm
also searched as "dambho darpo abhimanash cha krodhah parushyam eva cha"
Translation
Pompousness, arrogance, self-conceit, wrath, rudeness, and ignorance—these, O Arjuna, belong to one who is born with a demonic destiny.
Vāṇi's rendering
Pretence, arrogance, conceit, anger, harshness, and ignorance — these mark the one born for the dark inheritance.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| दम्भःdambhaḥ | pretence, putting on a show of virtue |
| दर्पःdarpaḥ | arrogance, swagger (sandhi: darpo before abhimānaḥ) |
| अभिमानःabhimānaḥ | conceit, being full of oneself (initial a elided after darpo) |
| चca | and |
| क्रोधःkrodhaḥ | anger |
| पारुष्यम्pāruṣyam | harshness, roughness of speech and manner |
| एवeva | indeed |
| चca | and |
| अज्ञानम्ajñānam | ignorance, not knowing |
| चca | and (joined in sandhi as cābhijātasya) |
| अभिजातस्यabhijātasya | of one born into, belonging by birth to |
| पार्थpārtha | Arjuna, son of Pṛthā |
| सम्पदम्sampadam | endowment, inheritance, the wealth one comes with |
| आसुरीम्āsurīm | dark, demonic |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 16 Verse 4 mean?
Krishna lists six marks of the āsurī inheritance: pretence, arrogance, conceit, anger, harshness, ignorance. They are not six separate faults but one movement — a life built on appearing, which hardens into pride, then into rage and cruelty, and ends in not seeing clearly at all. Naming them is how you catch them early.
What is the meaning of dambho darpo abhimanash cha krodhah parushyam eva cha?
It opens the count of the dark endowment. Dambha is showing what you do not have; darpa is swelling with what you do; abhimāna is mistaking that swelling for yourself. Then krodha, anger, when the picture is threatened, and pāruṣya, the harsh word that follows. Each grows from the one before it.
Does this verse mean some people are born evil?
Abhijātasya means born into an endowment, the way one is born into a household — not sentenced by it. The Gītā spends its final chapters describing exactly how these qualities are cultivated and how they are undone. If birth settled everything, Krishna would have no reason to keep speaking to Arjuna at all.
Why is ignorance listed last instead of first?
Because it is the harvest, not the seed. A man who has spent years defending an image of himself can no longer see plainly — the pretence has cost him his eyes. Ajñāna here is not lack of information. It is the blindness that arrives after long practice at looking away.
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Six words, and not one of them is violence. Krishna names the dark inheritance and begins with pretence — the small daily act of seeming more than you are. Arrogance follows, then conceit, then anger, then a hard tongue, and last, not knowing. Notice the order. Cruelty sits at the end of the list, not the beginning; it grows in someone who has been performing himself for years. Arjuna is shown a slope, not a species. Nobody is born a demon. But pretence is available to you this afternoon, and the rest of the list follows it downhill.