Shloka 9
Kīṭopākhyāna: Prajā-pālana as Kṣatra-vrata and the Attainment of Brāhmaṇya
शुक्राच्च तात सम्भूतिर्मांसस्येह न संशय: । भक्षणे तु महान् दोषो निवृत्त्या पुण्यमुच्यते
śukrāc ca tāta sambhūtir māṁsasy eha na saṁśayaḥ | bhakṣaṇe tu mahān doṣo nivṛttyā puṇyam ucyate, tāta ||
قال بهيشما: «يا بُنيّ، لا شكّ أن اللحم ينشأ من المنيّ. غير أنّ أكل اللحم يحمل ذنبًا عظيمًا؛ ولذلك قيل إن الفضل إنما يكون في الامتناع عنه، يا بنيّ».
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Meat-eating is presented as ethically blameworthy (doṣa), and abstaining from it (nivṛtti) is praised as a source of religious merit (puṇya).
In the Anuśāsana Parva’s instruction on dharma, Bhīṣma addresses a listener as “tāta” and argues against meat consumption, grounding the admonition in a view of meat’s bodily origin and concluding that virtue lies in refraining.