Shloka 23
Chatra–Upānah Dāna: Origin Narrative
Jamadagni–Reṇukā–Sūrya Saṃvāda
दिलीप उवाच उदपानप्लवे ग्रामे ब्राह्मणो वृषलीपति: । तस्य लोकान् स व्रजतु यस्ते हरति पुष्करम्
dilīpa uvāca | udapāna-plave grāme brāhmaṇo vṛṣalī-patiḥ | tasya lokān sa vrajatu yas te harati puṣkaram |
Dilip berkata: “Barangsiapa mencuri padmamu, semoga ia pergi setelah mati ke alam-alam penuh duka yang menanti seorang Brahmana yang tinggal di desa tempat orang-orang menimba air bersama dari satu sumur dan yang menjalin hubungan dengan perempuan Śūdra.”
दिलीप उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames theft—specifically stealing a valued object—as a grave ethical breach, invoking the idea that wrongful acts lead to painful post-mortem consequences. It also reflects the text’s traditional social-legal idiom, where certain transgressions are described through the language of varṇa norms and their karmic results.
King Dilīpa utters an imprecation: he wishes that whoever stole the addressed person’s lotus should suffer the same miserable afterlife assigned (in the text’s moral framework) to a Brahmin who violates accepted social conduct by keeping a relationship with a Śūdra woman, set in the imagery of a village common-well setting.