Shloka 23
Go-apahāra (Cattle Theft), Go-dāna (Cow-Gift), and Suvarṇa-dakṣiṇā (Gold Fee): Karmic Consequence and Purificatory Merit
रक्षितास्मीति चोक्तं ते प्रतिज्ञा चानृता तव । ब्राह्मणस्वस्य चादानं द्विविधस्ते व्यतिक्रम:
rakṣitāsmīti coktaṃ te pratijñā cānṛtā tava | brāhmaṇasvasya cādānaṃ dvividhās te vyatikramaḥ ||
“നീ ‘ഞാൻ രക്ഷകനാണ്’ എന്നു പറഞ്ഞിരുന്നു; എന്നാൽ ബ്രാഹ്മണന്റെ പശു നഷ്ടപ്പെട്ടതുകൊണ്ട് നിന്റെ പ്രതിജ്ഞ അസത്യമാകുന്നു. കൂടാതെ ബ്രാഹ്മണന്റെ ധനവും (തെറ്റിദ്ധാരണയാലെങ്കിലും) എടുത്തിരിക്കുന്നു. ഇങ്ങനെ നിനക്കു രണ്ടു വിധത്തിലുള്ള അതിക്രമങ്ങൾ സംഭവിച്ചു.”
ब्राह्मण उवाच
Educational Q&A
A ruler’s dharma is measured by protection and integrity: proclaiming oneself a protector creates a binding obligation, and failure to safeguard the vulnerable makes the pledge ‘false’ in effect. Additionally, Brahmin property is treated as especially inviolable; even inadvertent taking is a serious breach. The verse frames wrongdoing as twofold—broken protective duty and wrongful appropriation.
A Brahmin addresses a ruler/authority figure, accusing him of two offenses: his public assurance of protection has been undermined because a Brahmin’s cow was lost, and he has also taken the Brahmin’s wealth (even if by mistake). The speech functions as a moral indictment, pressing accountability under dharma.