Shloka 4
ब्रह्मस्वहरण-निषेधः — Prohibition of Appropriating Brahmin Property
Brahmasva
साधुभिर्गहितं कर्म चाण्डालस्य विधीयते । कस्माद् गोरजसा ध्वस्तमपां कुण्डे निषिउचसि
rājanya uvāca |
sādhubhir garhitaṃ karma cāṇḍālasya vidhīyate |
kasmād gorajasā dhvastam apāṃ kuṇḍe niṣiñcasi ||
Le kṣatriya dit : «La conduite prescrite à un Caṇḍāla est blâmée par les vertueux. Pourquoi donc te laves-tu dans un bassin d’eau après que ton corps a été couvert de poussière de vache ? À quoi bon cette purification, quand ta propre occupation est condamnée par les gens de bien ?»
राजन्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds a tension between socially prescribed occupations and ideals of purity: the speaker argues that if an occupation is socially condemned, external cleansing appears futile. It sets up a discussion on whether dharma is determined by birth-based duty, by conduct, or by inner disposition.
A Kshatriya addresses a Caṇḍāla (or someone treated as such) and questions why he is bathing in a water-tank after being covered in cow-dust, implying that ritual washing is meaningless for someone whose prescribed work is disparaged by ‘the good’.