Shloka 57
Śaraṇāgata-Atithi-Dharma in the Kapota Narrative (कपोत-आख्यानम्—शरणागतधर्मः)
शृगालादथमं श्वानं प्रवदन्ति मनीषिण: । तस्याप्यधम उद्देश: शरीरस्य श्वजाघनी
śṛgālād athamaṁ śvānaṁ pravadanti manīṣiṇaḥ | tasyāpy adhama uddeśaḥ śarīrasya śvajāghanī ||
“婆罗门圣仙（Brahmarṣi）啊，也请听我为你所说的这段达摩之教。智者说：狗比豺更卑下；而在狗的身体里，其腿股之部被称为最可鄙者。”
घपच उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses a graded comparison (jackal → dog → a specific bodily part) as a rhetorical device to emphasize degrees of baseness and to frame a moral warning: dharma-discourse may employ stark imagery to underline what is considered most degraded or blameworthy.
A speaker addresses a Brahmarṣi and continues a didactic discussion on dharma, citing what “the wise” say. The statement functions as an illustrative example within a larger ethical instruction rather than as zoological description.