Shloka 15
Purohita-Niyoga and the Brahma–Kṣatra Concord
Aila–Kaśyapa Saṃvāda
न ब्रह्मचारी चरणादपेतो यदा ब्रद्द॒ ब्रह्मणि त्राणमिच्छेत् । आश्षूर्यतो वर्षति तत्र देव- स्तत्राभीक्ष्णं दुःसहाश्चाविशन्ति
na brahmacārī caraṇād apeto yadā brāhmaṇo brahmaṇi trāṇam icchet | āścaryato varṣati tatra devas tatrābhīkṣṇaṁ duḥsahāś cāviśanti ||
Kāśyapa dit : «Lorsque, détourné de sa voie, un brahmacārin est contraint d’abandonner l’étude de sa branche védique à cause des vexations des brigands, et qu’il cherche protection pour la cause de Brahman (le savoir sacré), alors, si le dieu Indra y envoyait la pluie, ce serait merveille. En un tel lieu, des fléaux accablants reviennent sans cesse—tels la peste et la famine.»
कश्यप उवाच
Educational Q&A
When society fails to protect disciplined students and sacred learning from violence and predation, the moral order is damaged; nature and public welfare also decline, manifesting as drought, famine, and disease. The verse links protection of dharma (especially Vedic study and brahmacarya) with collective prosperity.
Kāśyapa describes a condition of social breakdown: robbers oppress a brahmacārin/brāhmaṇa so that he cannot continue his Vedic svādhyāya and must seek protection. Kāśyapa then states that rainfall there would be surprising, because such places are typically struck by repeated, unbearable afflictions like pestilence and famine.