Shloka 15
Adhyaya 8 — Harishchandra’s Trial: Truth, the Sale of Family, and Bondage to a Chandala
ब्रह्मस्वहृत्कृमिः पापो भविष्याम्यधमाधमः ।
अथवा प्रेष्यतां यास्ये वरमेवात्मविक्रयः ॥
brahmasvahṛtkṛmiḥ pāpo bhaviṣyāmy adhamādhamaḥ | athavā preṣyatāṃ yāsye varam evātmavikrayaḥ ||
“Aku akan menjadi ulat yang berdosa—pencuri harta Brahmana—yang paling hina antara yang hina. Atau aku akan jatuh ke dalam perhambaan; sesungguhnya, menjual diri (sebagai hamba) lebih baik daripada itu.”
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FAQs
The verse presents a stark hierarchy of moral downfall: stealing ‘brahmasva’ (property tied to Brāhmaṇas or sacred trust) is portrayed as a grievous sin leading to extreme degradation (‘worm’, ‘lowest of the low’). The speaker frames even social humiliation (servitude) or the drastic act of self-sale as preferable to committing that theft—underscoring that certain adharma, especially violations against sacred/social trust, are worse than severe personal hardship.
This verse aligns most closely with ancillary dharma-śikṣā (ethical instruction) rather than the core pañcalakṣaṇa topics (sarga, pratisarga, vaṃśa, manvantara, vaṃśānucarita). If mapped, it would be placed under ‘vaṃśānucarita’/narrative instruction only insofar as it occurs within a story or dialogue illustrating dharma; it is not directly cosmological or genealogical in content.
Symbolically, ‘worm’ (kṛmi) indicates consciousness narrowed to the lowest, most instinct-bound state—an image for the contraction of dharma and dignity caused by betrayal of sacred trust (brahmasva). The contrast—servitude or even self-sale being ‘better’—suggests an inner teaching: accept external loss (status, comfort) rather than internal corruption (adharmic gain), because inner corruption determines the deeper trajectory of the self.