Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 117
Ahiṃsā as Threefold Restraint (Mind–Speech–Action) and the Ethics of Consumption
स्त्रियं हत्वा तु दुर्बद्धिर्यमस्य विषयं गत: । बहून् क्लेशान् समासाद्य संसारांश्चैव विंशतिम्
striyaṁ hatvā tu durbuddhir yamasya viṣayaṁ gataḥ | bahūn kleśān samāsādya saṁsārāṁś caiva viṁśatim ||
যে বিকৃতবুদ্ধি পুরুষ নারীর হত্যা করে, সে যমের লোক প্রাপ্ত হয়। সেখানে নানাবিধ যন্ত্রণা ভোগ করে, পরে দুঃখময় যোনিতে বিশবার জন্মগ্রহণ করে।
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse asserts a strong dharmic prohibition against harming women: killing a woman is portrayed as a grave adharma that leads to post-mortem punishment in Yama’s realm and repeated painful rebirths, emphasizing karmic accountability and social-ethical restraint.
In the Anuśāsana Parva’s instruction on dharma, Yudhiṣṭhira speaks a warning statement: he describes the fate of a wrong-minded person who commits the act of killing a woman—first suffering in Yama’s jurisdiction and then undergoing multiple sorrowful rebirths.