Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 122
Ahiṃsā as Threefold Restraint (Mind–Speech–Action) and the Ethics of Consumption
दशन् वै मानुषान्नित्यं पापात्मा स विशाम्पते । धान्यकी चोरी करनेवाले मनुष्यके शरीरमें दूसरे जन्ममें बहुत-से रोएँ पैदा होते हैं। प्रजानाथ! जो मानव तिलके चूर्णसे मिश्रित भोजनकी चोरी करता है, वह नेवलेके समान आकारवाला भयानक चूहा होता है तथा वह पापी सदा मनुष्योंको काटा करता है ।।
yudhiṣṭhira uvāca | daśan vai mānuṣān nityaṃ pāpātmā sa viśāṃpate |
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “O lord of the people, that sinful-souled being, in whatever state he is born, continually bites human beings.” In this teaching (as unfolded by the surrounding instruction), Yudhiṣṭhira draws forth the ethical doctrine that theft—especially of essential foods and household staples—ripens into painful, degrading rebirths. The punishment is cast in symbolic animal embodiments: the thief’s future form mirrors the harm and stealth of the act, and the consequence is not merely social blame but a karmic transformation that makes the wrongdoer a persistent tormentor of humankind.
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage underscores karmic moral causality: theft—especially of basic sustenance—produces severe consequences, depicted as degrading rebirths and ongoing suffering. The ethical point is that taking what sustains others violates dharma and returns as a life marked by fear, harm, and loss of human dignity.
Within Anuśāsana Parva’s didactic setting, Yudhiṣṭhira speaks to a kingly figure (‘viśāṃpati’), voicing or eliciting a rule-like statement about a sinner who continually bites humans. The surrounding exposition (as reflected in the provided gloss) elaborates this as a catalogue of thefts and their karmic rebirth-results.