Adhyaya 15 — Karmic Retribution: Rebirths After Naraka and the King’s Compassion in Hell
अपस्मारी च भवति शूद्रत्वं च स गच्छति । एष एव क्रमो दृष्टो गोसुवर्णापहारिणाम् ॥
apasmārī ca bhavati śūdratvaṃ ca sa gacchati / eṣa eva kramo dṛṣṭo go-suvarṇāpahāriṇām
Er wird von Epilepsie (apasmāra) befallen und fällt in den Status eines Śūdra. Dieselbe Abfolge wird bei denen beobachtet, die Kühe und Gold stehlen.
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The text treats cow and gold theft as especially corrosive, yielding both bodily affliction and social degradation; the intent is prescriptive—protecting communal and ritual economy by strong moral sanction.
Falls under didactic dharma teaching; it is ancillary to the Purāṇa’s pancalakṣaṇa materials rather than a direct instance of sarga/pratisarga/vaṃśa/manvantara/vaṃśānucarita.
Apasmāra also connotes ‘forgetfulness/obscuration’; symbolically, theft causes a collapse of memory of right order (dharma-smṛti), leading to disorientation in both mind and society.