“Virtue will desert the man who through lack of wisdom drinks wine. He will be an object of scorn to all. This is my message to humanity, which should be regarded as an imperative scriptural injunction.”
The Asuras would have killed Sukracharya’s disciple Kacha, burnt his body and mixed his ashes in wine and offered it to Sukracharya, in an attempt to dissuade Sukracharya from reviving Kacha from death. Sukracharya angry at the deceit played upon him by the Asuras, utters the above words.
(Mahabharata by C. Rajagopalachari – p.30)
Manoj 
4 responses to “Of wine and virtue”
Interesting, I read about Kacha and Shukracharya in a marathi book called Yayati.
Yes, Yayati is the one who married Devayani, the daughter of Sukracharya.
That’s true, a very interesting read. Do check out the translation, Yayati By VS Khandekar, you might like it.
Thank you, I will check it out.