Text 51]
Prayers by Queen Kuntī
435
administration but for the sake of self-aggrandizement, and as such he thought himself responsible for all the sins.
TEXT 51
स्त्रीणां मद्धतवन्धूनां द्रोहो योऽसाविहोत्थितः । क्रमभिर्गृहमेधीयैर्नाहं कल्पो व्यपोहितुम् ॥५१॥
strīṇām madd-hata-bandhūnām droho yo 'sāv ihotthitaḥ karmabhir gṛhamedhīyair nāham kalpo vyapohitum
strīṇām —of the woman;  mat —by me;  hata-bandhūnām —of the friends who are killed;  drohaḥ —enmity;  yaḥ —that;  asau —all those;  iha —herewith;  utthitaḥ —has accrued;  karmabhiḥ —by dint of work;  gṛhamedhīyaiḥ —by persons engaged in material welfare;  na —never;  aham —I;  kalpaḥ —can expect;  vyapohitum —undoing the same.
TRANSLATION
I have killed many friends of women, and I have thus caused enmity to such an extent that it is not possible to undo it by material welfare work.
PURPORT
The  gṛhamedhīs  are those whose only business is to perform welfare work for the sake of material prosperity. Such material prosperity is sometimes hampered by sinful activities, and the materialist is sure to commit sins, even unintentionally, in course of discharging material duties. To get relief from such sinful reactions, the  Vedas  prescribe several kinds of sacrifices. It is said in the  Vedas  that by performing the  aśvamedha yajña  (horse sacrifice) one can get relief from even  brahmahātya  (killing of a  brāhmaṇa ).
Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja performed this  aśvamedha yajña , but he thinks that even by performing such  yajñas  it is not possible to get relief from the great sins committed. In the war either the husband or the brother or even the father or sons go to fight. And when they are killed, a fresh enmity is created, and thus a chain of actions and reactions increases which is not possible to be counteracted even by thousands of  aśvamedha yajñas .