Shloka 124

Ahiṃsā as Threefold Restraint (Mind–Speech–Action) and the Ethics of Consumption

Devanagari script

विश्वासेन तु निक्षिप्तं यो विनिहल्लोति मानव: । स गतायुर्नरस्तात मत्स्ययोनौ प्रजायते,तात! जो मानव विश्वासपूर्वक रखी हुई दूसरेकी धरोहरको हड़प लेता है, वह गतायु होनेपर मत्स्यकी योनिमें जन्म लेता है

Transliteration

viśvāsena tu nikṣiptaṃ yo vinihanti manuṣyaḥ | sa gatāyur naras tāta matsyayonau prajāyate ||

Translation

Yudhiṣṭhira sprach: „Mein Lieber, der Mensch, der das Vertrauen bricht, indem er an sich nimmt, was ihm im Vertrauen hinterlegt wurde—fremdes, ihm anvertrautes Gut—wird nach dem Ende seines Lebens im Schoß eines Fisches wiedergeboren.“

Word by Word

विश्वासेनwith trust

तुbut/indeed

निक्षिप्तम्deposited/placed (as a deposit)

यःwho

विनिहन्तिseizes/appropriates (wrongfully takes)

मानवःa man

सःhe

गतायुःhaving life gone; dead

नरःman

ततःthen/thereafter

मत्स्ययोनौin the womb/species of a fish

प्रजायतेis born

तातO dear one/son

Speaker

युधिछिर उवाच

Characters & Entities

Yudhiṣṭhira

entrusted deposit (nikṣipta)

fish (matsya)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Betraying trust by misappropriating an entrusted deposit is a grave adharma; it brings severe karmic consequence, expressed here as an inferior rebirth (fish-womb) after death.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Anuśāsana Parva’s dharma-instruction context, Yudhiṣṭhira states a moral rule about safeguarding deposits given in confidence, warning that one who seizes such property incurs a specific post-mortem consequence.