Kṛtaghna
Kṛtaghna · kṛta-ghna, “one who destroys the good done”
Grammar: adjective and masculine noun, a compound of kṛta (what has been done, a kindness) and -ghna (destroying): “one who destroys the good done to him”. The quality is kṛtaghnatva, ingratitude.
Meaning: an ungrateful person, one who forgets or repays with harm the good that others have done him.
In the scriptures: the ṛshis teach the rākshasa king Sukeśī, whom they call Niśācarapati, that the kṛtaghnas and those who revile the world suffer all the torments of the narakas in turn. Among all who commit pāpa, the kṛtaghna is the very lowest (parama-nikṛshṭa), and kṛtaghnatva is the most fearful of pāpas. For brahmahatyā and for gohatyā there may be a nishkṛti (a prāyaścitta, a way to make amends), but for the kṛtaghna who forgets the good done by his friends there is none, even in a crore of years. “This is true,” they say (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 12).
On Mount Trikūṭa, Brahmā‘s third peak, of indranīla, vajra and vaiḍūrya, cannot be seen by kṛtaghnas, by the cruel, by nāstikas, or by those who do pāpa and have done no tapas (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 58).
Related terms: Pāpa · Prāyaścitta · Brahmahatyā · Naraka · Kṛtajña
Sources
- Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 12, 58