Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 29
Adhyāya 119: Vyāsa–Kīṭa-saṃvāda
Tapas-bala and karmic ascent across yoni
यदि चेत् खादको न स्यान्न तदा घातको भवेत् | घातक: खादकार्थाय तद् घातयति वै नरः
yadi cet khādako na syān na tadā ghātako bhavet | ghātakaḥ khādakārthāya tad ghātayati vai naraḥ ||
Bhishma said: “If there were no one who ate flesh, then there would be no killer. For it is for the sake of those who consume meat that a man who kills causes living beings to be slain.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse links demand to violence: if people do not desire meat, the social incentive for slaughter disappears. Ethical responsibility is extended beyond the direct killer to the consumer whose appetite sustains killing.
In Bhishma’s instruction on dharma, he argues for non-violence by explaining the causal chain behind animal slaughter: the killer acts to supply those who eat flesh.