Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 5
दानशील-समाचारः, सत्कारः, अहिंसा च
Umā–Maheśvara Saṃvāda
इदं चैवापरं गुह्ुमप्रशस्तं निबोधत । अग्नेस्तु वृषलो नेता हविर्मूढाश्व योषित:
idaṃ caivāparaṃ guhyaṃ apraśastaṃ nibodhata | agnestu vṛṣalo netā havirmūḍhāśva yoṣitaḥ ||
陀乌弥亚说道：现在再当明白另一条秘要——并非可称赞之事，实为可责之行。若首陀罗（Śūdra）充当两次生者（dvija）阿耆尼火供（agnihotra）圣火的搬运者，将圣火自一处移至另一处；又若愚昧之妇女搬运祭献之供物（havis）；那么把此等行为当作“法”（dharma）的人，反而为非法（adharma）所染。诸圣火将对他发怒，据说他将转生于首陀罗之胎。
धौग्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse warns that certain ritual roles—specifically transporting the sacred sacrificial fire and carrying the oblation—are considered improper when performed by those deemed ritually unqualified in this normative framework. Treating such impropriety as ‘dharma’ is said to lead to adharma and adverse karmic consequences, symbolized by the anger of the sacred fires and an inferior rebirth.
Dhaugya continues an instruction on dharma by introducing a ‘secret’ but negative example (apraśasta). He lists actions regarded as blameworthy in sacrificial procedure—having a Śūdra transport the ritual fire and having ignorant women carry the havis—and states the moral-ritual consequence for endorsing such acts as righteous.