Shloka 17
आ चतुर्दशकाद् वर्षान्न भविष्यति पातकम् | परत: कुर्वतामेवं दोष एव भविष्यति,चौदह वर्षकी उम्रतक किसीको पाप नहीं लगेगा। उससे अधिककी आयुमें पाप करनेवालोंको ही दोष लगेगा
ā caturdaśakād varṣān na bhaviṣyati pātakam | parataḥ kurvatām evaṃ doṣa eva bhaviṣyati ||
Up to the age of fourteen years, an act will not be counted as sin. Beyond that age, however, those who act in this manner will indeed incur fault. The statement frames moral accountability as increasing with maturity: childhood is treated as a stage of diminished culpability, while deliberate wrongdoing after reaching sufficient age is ethically blameworthy.
अणीमाण्डग्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
Moral culpability is linked to maturity: up to fourteen years one is treated as not incurring sin in the same way, but beyond that age the same conduct becomes blameworthy and generates doṣa (fault).
Aṇīmāṇḍavya states a rule about when actions begin to count as pātaka (sin), distinguishing childhood from the age after fourteen, thereby setting a standard for ethical and juridical responsibility.