Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c4.657
Purāṇic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Purāṇic Literature c4.657
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c4.657
2) Curse on Dharma. After going about in the world for many years with the tip of the trident in his body, Aṇi Māṇḍavya once asked Dharma: "Oh! Lord, why is it that an innocent man like me is afflicted with the trident?". Dharma answered: "In your boyhood you once caught small birds and pierced them with a grass reed. It is a result of that sin that you have been pierced with the trident." Māṇḍavya replied: "The Śāstras ordain that there shall be no punishment for sins committed till the age of twelve. Therefore the punishment inflicted on me is wrong. As the murder of a Brahmin is a greater sin than any other murder, may you be born as a man in the ‘Śūdra Caste’."