Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 13
ब्रह्मस्वहरण-निषेधः — Prohibition of Appropriating Brahmin Property
Brahmasva
तस्माद्धरेन्न विप्रस्व॑ं कदाचिदपि किंचन । ब्रह्मस्वं रजसा ध्वस्तं भुक्त्वा मां पश्य यादृशम्
tasmād dharen na viprasvaṁ kadācid api kiṁcana | brahmasvaṁ rajasā dhvastaṁ bhuktvā māṁ paśya yādṛśam | ye cainaṁ krīṇate tāta ye ca vikrīṇate janāḥ | te tu vaivasvataṁ prāpya rauravaṁ yānti sarvaśaḥ ||
“Therefore, one should never, at any time, take even the slightest property belonging to a Brahmin. Having consumed Brahmin-property—defiled by passion—look at what I have become. And those people, dear one, who buy it and those who sell it: all of them, after reaching Vaivasvata (Yama), inevitably go to the Raurava hell.”
चाण्डाल उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse warns that appropriating or consuming brahmasva (property belonging to or sanctified for brāhmaṇas) is a grave adharma, driven by rajas, and leads to severe post-mortem punishment; even those who participate indirectly through buying or selling such tainted goods share the karmic consequence.
A Caṇḍāla speaker points to his own degraded condition as a cautionary example, attributing it to having consumed brahmasva. He then extends the warning to others, stating that both buyers and sellers of the implicated substance (contextually linked in the passage to soma-trade) are judged by Yama and fall into Raurava hell.