Shloka 125
Puṣkara-Śapatha Itihāsa (Agastya–Indra Dispute at the Tīrthas) | पुष्कर-शपथ-आख्यानम्
अशुचिर्त्रद्यकूटो5स्तु ऋद्धया चैवाप्यहंकृत: । कर्षको मत्सरी चास्तु बिसस्तैन्यं करोति य:
aśucir trayakūṭo 'stu ṛddhyā caivāpy ahaṅkṛtaḥ | karṣako matsarī cāstu bisastainyaṃ karoti yaḥ ||
Viśvāmitra dit : «Que celui qui vole les fibres de lotus (bisa) devienne impur ; qu’il soit un négateur des Veda ; qu’il s’enfle d’orgueil à cause de la richesse ; que, bien que brahmane, il prenne la charrue comme cultivateur ; et qu’il soit envieux. Telles sont les souillures morales qui s’attachent au voleur de fibres de lotus.»
विश्वामित्र उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even seemingly minor theft (here, lotus-fibre) is treated as a serious breach of dharma, bringing moral and social degradation—impurity, envy, arrogance, and a fall from proper conduct and reverence for Vedic authority.
In a didactic passage of Anuśāsana Parva, Viśvāmitra pronounces the kinds of दोष/पाप (faults and sins) that are said to accrue to a person who steals lotus-fibres, listing the resulting moral taints and degraded dispositions.