Shloka 114
Ahiṃsā as Threefold Restraint (Mind–Speech–Action) and the Ethics of Consumption
मृगो वध्यति शस्त्रेण गते संवत्सरे तु सः । हतो मृगस्ततो मीन: सो5पि जालेन बध्यते,मृग होकर वह सालभरमें ही शस्त्रद्वारा मारा जाता है। मरनेपर मत्स्य होता है, फिर वह भी जालसे बँधता है
mṛgo badhyati śastreṇa gate saṃvatsare tu saḥ | hato mṛgas tato mīnaḥ so 'pi jālena badhyate ||
Yudhiṣṭhira sprach: „Als Hirsch wird er, wenn ein Jahr vergangen ist, gefangen und durch eine Waffe getötet. Wird jener Hirsch erschlagen, wird er zum Fisch; und auch dieser wird in einem Netz gefangen.“
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse illustrates the inevitability of karmic consequence and the repeated exposure to suffering across rebirths: even after changing forms (deer to fish), the being remains subject to capture and death. It implicitly counsels ethical restraint, especially regarding violence, and attentiveness to dharma as a means to break recurring harm.
Yudhiṣṭhira presents a compact example: a deer is killed by a weapon after a year; upon death it is said to become a fish, which is again caught—this time by a net. The sequence functions as a moral illustration within Anuśāsana Parva’s instruction-oriented discourse.