Bhagavad Gita 1.42
Spoken by Arjuna · Verse 42 of 47 · Arjuna's Journey
दोषैरेतैः कुलघ्नानां वर्णसंकरकारकैः। उत्साद्यन्ते जातिधर्माः कुलधर्माश्च शाश्वताः॥
doṣair etaiḥ kula-ghnānāṃ varṇa-saṃkara-kārakaiḥ / utsādyante jāti-dharmāḥ kula-dharmāś ca śāśvatāḥ
Every pillar of social order that took generations to build — destroyed in one war.
Word by word (4)
- doṣair etaiḥ kula-ghnānām
- — by these faults of those who destroy the family
- varṇa-saṅkara-kārakaiḥ
- — causing the intermixing of castes · 'Varṇa-saṅkara' — literally mixing of colors/castes. In Arjuna's argument, social order depends on clearly defined roles; war destroys those roles and the traditions that sustain them.
- utsādyante jāti-dharmāḥ
- — the caste laws are destroyed
- kula-dharmāś ca śāśvatāḥ
- — and the eternal family traditions collapse · Arjuna's argument is sociological and traditional, not metaphysical. He will need a deeper teaching — which begins in V2.11.
'By the evils caused by those who destroy families and create social disorder, the eternal duties of both caste and family are wiped out.'
A modern analogy
Every functioning society depends on accumulated social infrastructure: laws, customs, trust, roles, responsibilities. It takes generations to build. A single war, a single upheaval, can destroy in days what took centuries to construct. Arjuna is naming this cost precisely.
Take with you
- The cumulative argument — from how a family's collapse unravels the traditions that hold communities together, to how every pillar of social order is destroyed in one war — shows that Arjuna understands second and third-order consequences, a mark of genuine ethical reasoning.
- Social institutions are fragile in a way that individual human capability is not — they depend on continuous maintenance.
- This verse concludes Arjuna's most structured argument. What follows returns to personal moral declaration — the appeal to tradition and the fear of hell, leading to his final collapse.
Public-domain translations (3) compare all →
By the evils of those who destroy the family and cause the intermixture of castes, the eternal laws of the caste and the family are destroyed. [4]
Through the sins of those who destroy a family and cause the intermixture of castes, the eternal customs and duties of the caste and family are subverted. [6]
By the offences of those who destroy the family and cause the intermixture of castes, the eternal laws of caste and family are ruined. [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
When families collapse, the traditions that hold communities together collapse with them.
Your own imperfect path beats another's perfect path. Death in your own dharma is better. Another's dharma brings fear.
A blind king asks what happened on the battlefield — and the Gita begins.
Arjuna sees his own people ready to die — and his body breaks before his mind can argue.
Whenever dharma declines and adharma rises — I project Myself forth. The divine responds to every crisis.
I am Time, the world-destroyer — even without you, none of these warriors shall survive; they are already slain!
Verse 42 of 47 · back to Chapter 1