Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 8
ब्रह्मस्वहरण-निषेधः — Prohibition of Appropriating Brahmin Property
Brahmasva
जघ्नुस्ता: पयसा पुत्रांस्तथा पौत्रान् विधुन्वती: । पशूनवेक्षमाणाश्च साधुवृत्तेन दम्पती
jaghnustāḥ payasā putrāṁs tathā pautrān vidhunvatīḥ | paśūn avekṣamāṇāś ca sādhuvṛttena dampatī ||
The cows, trembling in anguish and looking about for the other cattle, when they could not see their rightful master and their calves, shook with pain. And by means of their own milk they destroyed that couple who lived by theft—along with their sons and grandsons. The episode shows that harm born of unrighteous livelihood rebounds upon the wrongdoer, and that even what sustains life can become an instrument of retribution when dharma is violated.
चाण्डाल उवाच
Educational Q&A
A livelihood rooted in adharma—such as theft and exploitation—invites inevitable ruin. The verse frames moral causality: violating rightful ownership and harming dependents (cows and calves) turns even nourishing milk into a means of punishment, emphasizing dharma’s protective and corrective force.
The cows, distressed because they cannot find their owner and calves and are searching among other cattle, tremble in pain. In that state, they bring about the destruction of the abducting/stealing couple and also their sons and grandsons—said to occur through the agency of the cows’ milk.