Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 17
Chatra–Upānah Dāna: Origin Narrative
Jamadagni–Reṇukā–Sūrya Saṃvāda
वसिष्ठ उवाच अस्वाध्यायपरो लोके श्वानं च परिकर्षतु । पुरे च भिक्षुर्भवतु यस्ते हरति पुष्करम्
Vasiṣṭha uvāca: asvādhyāya-paro loke śvānaṃ ca parikarṣatu | pure ca bhikṣur bhavatu yas te harati puṣkaram ||
ဝသိဋ္ဌက မိန့်တော်မူသည်– «သင်၏ ကြာပန်းကို ခိုးယူသူသည် ဤလောက၌ သာသနာစာပေ(သွာဓျာယ)မှ မျက်နှာလွှဲသူ ဖြစ်စေ။ ခွေးတစ်ကောင်ကို ဆွဲလျက် လှည့်လည်စေ၊ မြို့ရွာများတွင်လည်း တောင်းစားဘဝဖြင့် နေထိုင်စေ» ဟု။
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames theft—especially of a valued or sacred object—as a dharmic lapse that results in loss of svādhyāya (sacred learning) and honor. The punishment is ethical and social: ignorance, disgrace, and dependence replace the stability and dignity that dharma protects.
Vasiṣṭha pronounces a curse upon an unnamed offender who has stolen ‘your lotus’ (puṣkara). He declares that the thief will become averse to sacred study, be reduced to dragging about with a dog, and wander in towns as a beggar—depicting a fall from cultured life into humiliation.