युधिष्ठिर उवाच ब्राह्मणस्वानि ये मन्दा हरन्ति भरतर्षभ। नृशंसकारिणो मूढाः क्व ते गच्छन्ति मानवाः॥
Yudhishthira said Where do those foolish, wretched, and sinful men go, O king, who steal misappropriate such articles as belong to Brahmanas? or
भीष्म उवाच अत्राप्युदाहरन्तीममितिहासं पुरातनम्। चाण्डालस्य च संवादं क्षाबन्धोश्च भारत॥
Bhishma said I shall, about it, O Bharata, recite to you the conversation between a Chandala and a low Kshatriya.
वृद्धरूपोऽसि चाण्डाल बालवच्च विचेष्टसे। श्वखराणां रज:सेवी कस्मादुद्विजसे गवाम्॥
This Kshatriya said You seem, O Chandala, to be old in years, but your conduct appears to be like that of a boy! Your body is besmeared with the dust raised by dogs and asses, but without minding thal dust you are anxious about the little drops of milk that have fallen upon you persons.
साधुभिर्गर्हितं कर्म चाण्डालस्य विधीयते। कस्माद् गोरजसाध्वस्तमपां कुण्डे निषिञ्चसि॥
It is plain that such acts as are censured by the pious are ordained for the Chandala. Why, indeed, do you seek to wash off the spots of milk from your body.
चाण्डाल उवाच ब्राह्मणस्य गवां राजन् हियतीनां रजः पुरा। सोममुध्वंसयामास तं सोमं येऽपिबन् द्विजाः॥ दीक्षितश्च स राजापि क्षिप्रं नरकमाविशत्। सह तैर्याजकैः सर्वैर्ब्रह्मस्वमुपजीव्य तत्॥
The Chandala said Formerly, O king, certain kine belonging to a Brahmana were stolen, While they were being carried away, some milk from their udders dropped upon a number of Soma plants that grew by the roadside. Those Brahmanas who drank the juice of the plants thus bedewed with milk, as also the king who celebrated the sacrifice in which that Soma was drunk, had to sink in hell. Indeed, for having thus appropriated something belonging to a Brahmana, the king with all the Brahmanas who had helped him had to go to hell.
येऽपि तत्रापिबन् क्षीरं घृतं दधि च मानवाः। ब्राह्मणाः सहराजन्याः सर्वे नरकमाविशन्॥
All those men also, Brahmanas and Kshatriyas, who drank milk or clarified butter or curds, in the palace of the king who had stolen the Brahmana's kine, had to fall into hell.
जनस्ताः पयसा पुत्रांस्तथा पौत्रान् विधुवन्तीः। पशूनवेक्षमाणाश्च साधृवृत्तेन दम्पती॥
The stolen kine also, shaking their bodies, killed with their milk the sons and grandsons of those who had stolen them, as also the king and the queen although the latter treated the animals, with great care and attention.
अहं तत्रावसं राजन् ब्रह्मचारी जितेन्द्रियः। तासां मे रजसा ध्वस्त भैक्षमासीन्नराधिप॥
As for myself, O king, I used to live the life of a celibate in that place where these kine were placed after they had been stolen away. The food I had got by begging became sprinkled over with the milk of those kine.
चाण्डालोऽहं ततो राजन् भुक्त्वा तदभवं नृप। ब्रह्मस्वहारी च नृपः सोऽप्रतिष्ठां गतिं ययौ।॥
Having taken that food, O Kshatriya, I have, in this life, become a Chandala. The king who had stolen the kine belonging to a Brahmana came by a wretched end.
तस्माद्धरेन विप्रस्वं कदाचिदपि किंचन। ब्रह्मस्वं रजसा ध्वस्तुं भुक्त्वा मां पश्य यादृशम्॥
Hence, one should never steal or appropriate anything belonging to a Brahmana. Mark, to what state I am reduced on account of my having eaten food that had been sprinkled over with milk belonging to a Brahmana.
तस्मात् सोमोऽप्यविक्रेयः पुरुषेण विपश्चिता। विक्रयं त्विह सोमस्य गर्हयन्ति मनीषिणः॥
It is for this reason that Soma plants should never be destroyed by wise men. They who sell the Soma plant are held in low esteem by the wise.
ये चैनं क्रीणते तात ये च विक्रीणते जनाः। ते त वैवस्वतं प्राप्य रौरवं यान्ति सर्वशः॥
Indeed, O son, they who purchase Soma and they who sell it, both sink in the hell called Raurava after death.
सोमं तु रजसा ध्वस्तं विक्रीणन् विधिपूर्वकम्। श्रोत्रियो वाधुषी भूत्वा न चिरं स विनश्यति॥
That man who, possessing a knowledge of the Vedas, duly sells Soma, becomes in his next life a usurer and speedily meets with destruction.
नरकं त्रिंशतं प्राप्य स्वविष्ठामुपजीवति। श्रुचर्यामभिमानं च सखिदारे च विप्लवम्॥ तुलया धारयन् धर्ममभिमान्यतिरिच्यते। श्वानं वै पापिनं पश्य विवर्णं हरिण कृशम्॥
For threehundred times he has to sink into hell and become changed into an animal which subsists upon human excreta. Serving a low person, pride, and rape upon a friend's wife, if weighed against one another in a balance, would show that pride, which is above all restraints, is the heaviest. Mark this dog, so sinful and disagreeably pale and lean.
अभिमानेन भूतानामिमां गतिमुपागतम्। अहं वै विपुले तात कुले धनसमन्विते॥ अन्यस्मिजन्मनि विभो ज्ञानविज्ञानपारगः। अभवं तत्र जानानो ह्येतान् दोषान् मदात् सदा॥ संरब्ध एव भूतानां पृष्ठमांसमभक्षयम्। सोऽहं तेन च वृत्तेन भोजनेन च तेन वै॥ इमामवस्थां सम्प्राप्तः पश्य कालस्य पर्ययम्। आदीप्तमिव चैलान्तं भ्रमरिव चार्दितम्॥ धावमानं सुसंरब्धं पश्य मां रजसान्वितम्। स्वाध्यायैस्तु महात्पापं हरन्ति गृहमेधिनः॥ दानैः पृथग्विधैश्चापि यथा प्राहुर्मनीषिणः। तथा पापकृतं विप्रमाश्रमस्थं महीपते॥ सर्वसङ्गविनिर्मुक्तं छन्दांस्युत्तारयन्त्युत। अहं हि पापयोन्यां वै प्रसूतः क्षत्रियर्षभ। निश्चयं नाधिगच्छामि कथं मुच्येयमित्युत॥
It is through pride that living creatures come by such a miserable end. As for myself, I was born in a large family in a former birth of mine, O lord, and I was a perfect master of all branches of knowledge and al the sciences. I knew the immensity of all these faults, but moved by pride, I became blinded and ate the i meat attached to the vertebral columns of animals. On account of such conduct and such food, I have come by this state. Mark, the। reverses engendered by Time! Like a person whose cloth has caught fire at one end, or who is pursued by bees, see, I am running, filled with fear, and smeared with dust! The householders are rescued from all sins by a study of the wise. O Kshatriya, a sinful Brahmana becomes rescued from all his sins by a study of the Vedas, if he becomes a forestreclusc and abstains from attachment of every kind. O chief of Kshatriyas, I am, in this life, born in sinful caste.
जातिस्मरत्वं च मम केनचित् पूर्वकर्मणा। शुभेन येन मोक्षं वै प्राप्तुमिच्छाम्यहं नृप।॥
I cannot see clearly how I may succeed in purifying myself from all sins. On account of some meritorious deed of a former life, I have not lost the memory of my previous births.
त्वमिमं सम्प्रपन्नाय संशयं ब्रूहि पृच्छते। चाण्डालत्वात् कथमहं मुच्येयमिति सत्तम॥
O king, I throw myself on your mercy! I ask you. Do you remove my doubt. By what auspicious course of conduct should I wish to acquire my liberation? O foremost of men, by what means shall I succeed in getting rid of my Chandalahood.
राजन्य उवाच चाण्डाल प्रतिजानीहि येन मोक्षमवाप्स्यसि। ब्राह्मणार्थे त्यजन् प्राणान् गतिमिष्टामवाप्स्यसि॥
The Kshatriya said Know, O Chandala, the means by which you may be able to acquire liberation. By renouncing your life for the sake of a Brahmana, you may come by a desirable end.
दत्त्वा शरीरं क्रव्याद्भयो रणाग्नौद्विजहेतुकम्। हत्वा प्राणान् प्रमोक्षस्ते नान्यथा मोक्षमर्हसि॥
By throwing your body on the fire of battle as a libation to the beasts and birds of prey for the sake of a Brahmana, indeed, by renouncing your life thus, you may achieve liberation. By no other means will you succeed in acquitting it.
भीष्म उवाच इत्युक्तः स तदा तेन ब्रह्मस्वार्थे परंतप। हत्वा रणमुखे प्राणान् गतिमिष्टामवाप ह॥
Bhishma said Thus accosted, that Chandala, O scorcher of enemies, poured his lifebreaths as a libation on the fire of battle for the sake of protecting a Brahmana's riches and as the result of that act attained to a very desirable end.
तस्माद् रक्ष्यं त्वया पुत्र ब्रह्मस्वं भरतर्षभ। यदीच्छसि महाबाहो शाश्वतीं गतिमात्मनः॥
Hence, O son, you should always protect the property of the Brahmanas, if, O chicf of Bharata's race, you wish, O you of mighty arms, an end consisting of eternal happiness. Hence, O son, you should always protect the property of the Brahmanas, if, O chicf of Bharata's race, you wish, O you of mighty arms, an end consisting of eternal happiness.