Shloka 23
Go-apahāra (Cattle Theft), Go-dāna (Cow-Gift), and Suvarṇa-dakṣiṇā (Gold Fee): Karmic Consequence and Purificatory Merit
रक्षितास्मीति चोक्तं ते प्रतिज्ञा चानृता तव । ब्राह्मणस्वस्य चादानं द्विविधस्ते व्यतिक्रम:,“आपने प्रजाके धन-जनकी रक्षाके लिये प्रतिज्ञा की थी; किंतु उस ब्राह्मणकी गाय खो जानेके कारण आपकी वह प्रतिज्ञा झूठी हो गयी। दूसरी बात यह है कि आपने ब्राह्मणके धनका भूलसे अपहरण कर लिया था। इस तरह आपके द्वारा दो तरहका अपराध हो गया है”
rakṣitāsmīti coktaṃ te pratijñā cānṛtā tava | brāhmaṇasvasya cādānaṃ dvividhās te vyatikramaḥ ||
“You declared, ‘I am your protector’; yet your pledge has proved false, for the Brahmin’s cow was lost. Moreover, you have—though by mistake—taken what belongs to a Brahmin. Thus, two distinct violations have been committed by you: the failure of your promised protection and the wrongful appropriation of Brahmin property.”
ब्राह्मण उवाच
Educational Q&A
A ruler’s dharma is measured by protection and integrity: proclaiming oneself a protector creates a binding obligation, and failure to safeguard the vulnerable makes the pledge ‘false’ in effect. Additionally, Brahmin property is treated as especially inviolable; even inadvertent taking is a serious breach. The verse frames wrongdoing as twofold—broken protective duty and wrongful appropriation.
A Brahmin addresses a ruler/authority figure, accusing him of two offenses: his public assurance of protection has been undermined because a Brahmin’s cow was lost, and he has also taken the Brahmin’s wealth (even if by mistake). The speech functions as a moral indictment, pressing accountability under dharma.