Shloka 9
ब्रह्मस्वहरण-निषेधः — Prohibition of Appropriating Brahmin Property
Brahmasva
अहं तत्रावसं राजन ब्रह्मचारी जितेन्द्रिय: । तासां मे रजसा ध्वस्तं भैक्षमासीन्नराधिप
ahaṁ tatrāvasaṁ rājan brahmacārī jitendriyaḥ | tāsāṁ me rajasā dhvastaṁ bhaikṣam āsīn narādhipa ||
ಚಾಂಡಾಲನು ಹೇಳಿದನು—ರಾಜನೇ! ನಾನೂ ಆ ಗ್ರಾಮದಲ್ಲೇ ಬ್ರಹ್ಮಚಾರಿಯಾಗಿ, ಇಂದ್ರಿಯಗಳನ್ನು ಜಯಿಸಿಕೊಂಡವನಾಗಿ ವಾಸಿಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದೆ. ನರಾಧಿಪನೇ! ಒಂದು ದಿನ ಆ ಹಸುಗಳು ಎಬ್ಬಿಸಿದ ಧೂಳಿನ ಕಣಗಳಿಂದ ನನ್ನ ಭಿಕ್ಷಾನ್ನವೂ ಕಲుషಿತವಾಯಿತು.
चाण्डाल उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even sincere ascetic discipline (brahmacarya, sense-control) can be tested by external circumstances; the passage foregrounds the ethical tension between inner purity and socially/ritually defined notions of defilement.
A Caṇḍāla recounts to a king that he lived in the same place as a self-controlled brahmacārī, but on one occasion his begged food became contaminated by dust (associated with the cows), setting up a discussion about impurity and dharma.