Shloka 137
Puṣkara-Śapatha Itihāsa (Agastya–Indra Dispute at the Tīrthas) | पुष्कर-शपथ-आख्यानम्
वृषादर्भिप्रयुक्तैषा निहता मे तपोधना: । दुष्टा हिंस्थादियं पापा युष्मान् प्रत्यग्निसम्भवा
vṛṣādarbhiprayuktaiṣā nihatā me tapodhanāḥ | duṣṭā hiṃsthād iyaṃ pāpā yuṣmān pratyagnisambhavā ||
Śunaḥsakha said: “This wicked woman, born of fire, has slain my ascetic wealth—my hard-won merits—by means of a bull and darbha-grass employed against me. She is cruel and sinful; she has harmed me, and her malice is directed toward you as well.”
शुन:सख उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the ethical gravity of harming ascetic merit (tapas) through malicious or ritualized means: spiritual wealth is portrayed as precious, and its destruction is condemned as wickedness (duṣṭatā, pāpatā), inviting moral accountability.
Śunaḥsakha laments that a fire-born woman has ruined his accumulated tapas, allegedly using a bull and darbha grass as instruments. He denounces her as sinful and warns that her hostility is directed toward the listeners as well.