Papa (pāpa)

Papa is demerit or sin, the residue left by harmful and false action, which must be worked off through suffering, expiation or rebirth. The Mahabharata is unusually interested in shared and inherited papa: the killing of a brahmin clings to Indra until it is distributed among earth, water, trees and women, and the survivors of Kurukshetra spend years trying to expiate the slaughter of kin. Yudhishthira's horse sacrifice and his brief tour of hell are both attempts to settle an account the epic never quite closes.