Srimad Bhagavatam — Panchama Skandha, Shloka 12
Jaḍa Bharata’s Birth, Feigned Madness, and Protection by Goddess Kālī
अथ कदाचित्कश्चिद् वृषलपतिर्भद्रकाल्यै पुरुषपशुमालभतापत्यकाम: ॥ १२ ॥
atha kadācit kaścid vṛṣala-patir bhadra-kālyai puruṣa-paśum ālabhatāpatya-kāmaḥ.
Khi ấy, một thủ lĩnh bọn cướp xuất thân từ gia đình śūdra, vì khát khao có con trai, muốn thờ phụng Nữ thần Bhadrakālī bằng cách hiến tế một người đần độn, bị xem chẳng hơn gì loài vật.
Low-class men such as śūdras worship demigods like Goddess Kālī, or Bhadra Kālī, for the fulfillment of material desires. To this end, they sometimes kill a human being before the deity. They generally choose a person who is not very intelligent — in other words, an animal in the shape of a man.
FAQs
This verse describes a degraded, desire-driven act: an outcaste leader, seeking offspring, attempts to offer a human victim to Bhadrakālī—presented as adharma rather than pure devotion.
He was apatya-kāma—driven by the desire for progeny—so he resorted to a violent rite, treating a person as a sacrificial animal.
Unchecked material desire can lead to cruelty and spiritual downfall; the Bhagavatam cautions seekers to pursue dharma and devotion rather than harmful, fear-based rituals.