Shloka 9
ब्रह्मस्वहरण-निषेधः — Prohibition of Appropriating Brahmin Property
Brahmasva
अहं तत्रावसं राजन ब्रह्मचारी जितेन्द्रिय: । तासां मे रजसा ध्वस्तं भैक्षमासीन्नराधिप
ahaṁ tatrāvasaṁ rājan brahmacārī jitendriyaḥ | tāsāṁ me rajasā dhvastaṁ bhaikṣam āsīn narādhipa ||
Dijo el Cāṇḍāla: «Oh rey, yo vivía allí como estudiante célibe, con los sentidos dominados. Sin embargo, oh señor de los hombres, mi alimento de limosna quedó mancillado por el polvo levantado por aquellas vacas.»
चाण्डाल उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even sincere ascetic discipline (brahmacarya, sense-control) can be tested by external circumstances; the passage foregrounds the ethical tension between inner purity and socially/ritually defined notions of defilement.
A Caṇḍāla recounts to a king that he lived in the same place as a self-controlled brahmacārī, but on one occasion his begged food became contaminated by dust (associated with the cows), setting up a discussion about impurity and dharma.