🪷 Bhagavad-Gītā · 1.40

Chapter 1 · अर्जुनविषादयोग · Arjuna-Viṣāda-Yoga · "The Yoga of Arjuna's Despondency" · Verse 40 of 47

कुलक्षये प्रणश्यन्ति कुलधर्माः सनातनाः।

धर्मे नष्टे कुलं कृत्स्नमधर्मोऽभिभवत्युत।।1.40।।
— Bhagavad-Gītā 1.40 · Devanāgarī root text

🪷 English Translations

5 received English translations are available for this śloka. Each voice is labelled; no single rendering is presented as the Sanskrit itself.

Shri Purohit Swami · Poetic English · 1935 edition attribution in the received data
1.40 The destruction of our kindred means the destruction of the traditions of our ancient lineage, and when these are lost, irreligion will overrun our homes.
Swami Sivananda · Direct prose · Divine Life Society
1.40. In the destruction of a family, the immemorial religious rites of that family perish; on the destruction of spirituality, impiety, indeed, overcomes the whole family.
Swami Gambīrānanda · Word-key glosses · Advaita Ashrama · Śaṅkara-school
1.40 Sri Sankaracharya did not comment on this sloka. The commentary starts from 2.10.
Swami Ādidevānanda · Śrī-Vaiṣṇava perspective · Rāmānuja school
1.26 - 1.47 Arjuna said - Sanjaya said Sanjaya continued: The high-minded Arjuna, extremely kind, deeply friendly, and supremely righteous, having brothers like himself, though repeatedly deceived by the treacherous attempts of your people like burning in the lac-house etc., and therefore fit to be killed by him with the help of the Supreme Person, nevertheless said, 'I will not fight.' He felt weak, overcome as he was by his love and extreme compassion for his relatives. He was also filled with fear, not knowing what was righteous and what unrighteous. His mind was tortured by grief, because of the thought of future separation from his relations. So he threw away his bow and arrow and sat on the chariot as if to fast to death.
Dr. S. Sankaranarayan · Academic precision · modern scholarly
1.40. When a family ruins, the etnernal duties of the family perish; when the duties perish, impiety inevitably dominates the entire family.

🪷 Hindi Translation · हिन्दी अनुवाद

Received Hindi rendering attributed in the source data to Swami Rāmsukhdās ji.

🪷 Swami Rāmsukhdās · Hindi rendering · source-data attribution
।।1.40।। कुल का क्षय होने पर सदा से चलते आये कुलधर्म नष्ट हो जाते हैं और धर्म का नाश होनेपर (बचे हुए) सम्पूर्ण कुल को अधर्म दबा लेता है।

🪷 English Commentaries · The Ācārya Voices

5 received English commentary layers are available for this śloka. Open only the voice you wish to study.

Swami Sivananda · Verse-by-verse word-keys with Sanskrit anchors
1.40 कुलक्षये in the destruction of a family? प्रणश्यन्ति perish? कुलधर्माः family religious rites? सनातनाः immemorial? धर्मे spirituality? नष्टे being destroyed? कुलम् कृत्स्नम् the whole family? अधर्मः impiety? अभिभवति overcomes? उत indeed.Commentary Dharma -- the duties and ceremonies practised by the family in accordance with the injunctions of the scriptures.
Swami Gambīrānanda · Advaita-school commentary (Śaṅkara tradition)
1.40 Sri Sankaracharya did not comment on this sloka. The commentary starts from 2.10.
Swami Ādidevānanda · Rāmānuja Śrī-Vaiṣṇava commentary
1.26 - 1.47 Arjuna said - Sanjaya said Sanjaya continued: The high-minded Arjuna, extremely kind, deeply friendly, and supremely righteous, having brothers like himself, though repeatedly deceived by the treacherous attempts of your people like burning in the lac-house etc., and therefore fit to be killed by him with the help of the Supreme Person, nevertheless said, 'I will not fight.' He felt weak, overcome as he was by his love and extreme compassion for his relatives. He was also filled with fear, not knowing what was righteous and what unrighteous. His mind was tortured by grief, because of the thought of future separation from his relations. So he threw away his bow and arrow and sat on the chariot as if to fast to death.
Dr. S. Sankaranarayan · Modern academic scholarship
1.35 1.44 Nihatya etc. upto anususruma. Sin alone is the agent in the act of slaying these desperadoes. Therefore here the idea is this : These ememies of ours have been slain, i.e., have been take possession of, by sin. Sin would come to us also after slaying them. Sin in this context is the disregard, on account of greed etc., to the injurious conseences like the ruination of the family and the like. That is why Arjuna makes a specific mention of the [ruin of the] family etc., and of its duties in the passage 'How by slaying my own kinsmen etc'. The act of slaying, undertaken with an individualizing idea about its result, and with a particularizing idea about the person to be slain, is a great sin. To say this very thing precisely and to indicate the intensity of his own agony, Arjuna says only to himself [see next sloka]:
Swami Chinmayānanda · Chinmaya Mission · modern Vedantic teaching
।।1.40।। जिस प्रकार कोई कथावाचक हर बार पुरानी कथा सुनाते हुए कुछ नई बातें उसमें जोड़ता जाता है इसी प्रकार अर्जुन की सर्जक बुद्धि अपनी गलत धारणा को पुष्ट करने के लिए नएनए तर्क निकाल रही है। वह जैसे ही एक तर्क समाप्त करता है वैसे ही उसको एक और नया तर्क सूझता है जिसकी आड़ में वह अपनी दुर्बलता को छिपाना चाहता है। अब उसका तर्क यह है कि युद्ध में अनेक परिवारों के नष्ट हो जाने पर सब प्रकार की सामाजिक एवं धार्मिक परम्परायें समाप्त हो जायेंगी और शीघ्र ही सब ओर अधर्म फैल जायेगा।सभ्यता और संस्कृति के क्षेत्र में नएनए प्रयोग करने में हमारे पूर्वजों की सदैव विशेष रुचि रही है। वे जानते थे कि राष्ट्र की संस्कृति की इकाई कुल की संस्कृति होती है। इसलिये यहाँ अर्जुन विशेष रूप से कुल धर्म के नाश का उल्लेख करता है क्योंकि उसके नाश के गम्भीर परिणाम हो सकते हैं।

🪷 Hindi Vyākhyā · हिन्दी व्याख्या

Received Hindi vyākhyā attributed in the source data to Swami Rāmsukhdās ji.

🪷 Swami Rāmsukhdās · Hindi vyākhyā · source-data attribution
।।1.40।। व्याख्या --'कुलक्षये प्रणश्यन्ति कुलधर्माः सनातनाः'-- जब युद्ध होता है तब उसमें कुल-(वंश-) का क्षय (ह्रास) होता है। जबसे कुल आरम्भ हुआ है, तभीसे कुलके धर्म अर्थात् कुलकी पवित्र परम्पराएँ, पवित्र रीतियाँ, मर्यादाएँ भी परम्परासे चलती आयी हैं। परन्तु जब कुलका क्षय हो जाता है, तब सदासे कुलके साथ रहनेवाले धर्म भी नष्ट हो जाते हैं अर्थात् जन्मके समय द्वजातिसंस्कारके समय, विवाहके समय, मृत्युके समय और मृत्युके बाद किये जानेवाले जो-जो शास्त्रीय पवित्र रीति-रिवाज हैं, जो कि जीवित और मृतात्मा मनुष्योंके लिये इस लोकमें और परलोकमें कल्याण करनेवाले हैं, वे नष्ट हो जाते हैं। कारण कि जब कुलका ही नाश हो जाता है तब कुलके आश्रित रहनेवाले धर्म किसके आश्रित रहेंगे?

🪷 Place in the Bhagavad-Gītā

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📚 Cite this verse · Academic citation formats
APA: Vyāsa Maharṣi. (n.d.). Bhagavad-Gītā 1.40. Vidhyāmitra. Retrieved 2026-08-17, from https://vidhyamitra.com/bhagavad-gita/1/40
Chicago: Vyāsa Maharṣi. "Bhagavad-Gītā 1.40." Vidhyāmitra. Accessed 2026-08-17. https://vidhyamitra.com/bhagavad-gita/1/40.
MLA: Vyāsa Maharṣi. "Bhagavad-Gītā 1.40." Vidhyāmitra, 2026, https://vidhyamitra.com/bhagavad-gita/1/40.
Canonical reading URL: https://vidhyamitra.com/bhagavad-gita/1/40. This citation identifies Vidhyamitra's received digital witness; consult a named scholarly or printed edition when edition-specific authority is required.

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This page is rendered from the pinned 701-address witness documented on the Gītā index. Publication and search-indexing authorization for every bundled translation and commentary layer was confirmed on 4 August 2026; the exact received recension boundary remains disclosed separately.

🪷 ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय 🪷

सर्वम् कृष्णार्पणम् — this verse is one maṇi (jewel) on Krishna's thread (BG 7.7)