Shloka 20
Adhyāya 2: Nārada’s Disclosure—Karṇa’s Training and the Brahmin’s Curse (Śānti-parva)
सोअग्निहोत्रप्रसक्तस्य कस्यचिद् ब्रह्मुवादिन: । जघानाज्ञानत:ः पार्थ होमधेनुं यदृच्छया
so ’gnihotra-prasaktasya kasyacid brahmavādinaḥ | jaghānājñānataḥ pārtha homadhenūṃ yadṛcchayā ||
Nārada disse: “Ó Pārtha, certa vez, enquanto um brāhmaṇa recitador dos Vedas estava absorto em seu Agnihotra, sua vaca sacrificial (a homa-dhenū) veio a vagar até ali por acaso. Alguém, agindo por ignorância—tomando-a por uma criatura nociva—matou essa vaca acidentalmente.”
नारद उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights ethical nuance: harm done ‘out of ignorance’ (ajñānataḥ) differs in moral intent from deliberate violence, yet it still raises questions of responsibility and the need for expiation or corrective dharma.
Nārada recounts an incident: while a Veda-reciting brāhmaṇa is performing Agnihotra, his ritual cow wanders in; someone, not recognizing it and thinking it a dangerous creature, kills it accidentally.