Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 95
Ahiṃsā as Threefold Restraint (Mind–Speech–Action) and the Ethics of Consumption
भारत! वह दण्ड, मुद्गर और शूलकी चोट खाकर दारुण अग्निकुम्भ (कुम्भीपाक), असिपत्रवन, तपी हुई भयंकर बालू, काँटोंसे भरी हुई शाल्मली आदि नरकोंमें कष्ट भोगता है। यमलोकमें पहुँचकर इन ऊपर बताये हुए तथा और भी बहुत-से नरकोंकी भयंकर यातनाएँ भोगकर वह वहाँ यमदूतोंद्वारा पीटा जाता है ।।
tato hataḥ kṛtadhnaḥ sa tatrograir bharatarṣabha | saṃsāracakram āsādya kṛmiyonau prajāyate ||
O Bhārata! Struck by the rod, the mace, and the spear, he suffers in dreadful hells—the pot of fire (Kumbhīpāka), the forest of sword-leaves, the terrifying heated sands, the thorn-filled śālmalī region, and others besides. Reaching Yama’s world, after enduring these and many other fearsome torments, he is beaten by Yama’s messengers. Then that ungrateful man is slain there by Yama’s fierce attendants, O bull among the Bharatas, and returns to the turning wheel of saṃsāra, to be born in the womb of worms.
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Ingratitude (kṛtadghnatā) is treated as a serious adharma: one who fails to acknowledge and repay benefaction incurs severe karmic consequences, including torment in Yama’s realm and a degrading rebirth, illustrating that moral debts and gratitude are central to righteous conduct.
The speaker describes the post-mortem fate of a kṛtadhna: after suffering punishments in terrifying hells and being beaten by Yama’s attendants, he is forced back into the cycle of transmigration and is reborn in a low form of life (as a worm).