Shloka 4
Brāhmaṇa-pūjā and Namaskāra: Criteria of Reverence and Non-Offense (ब्राह्मणपूजा-नमस्कारविधिः)
प्रमथा ऊचु. मैथुनेन सदोच्छिष्टा: कृते चैवाधरोत्तरे मोहान्मांसानि खादेत वृक्षमूले च यः स्वपेत्,प्रमथ बोले--जो मनुष्य सदा स्त्री-सहवासके कारण दूषित रहते, बड़ोंका अपमान करते, मूर्खतावश मांस खाते, वृक्षकी जड़में सोते, सिरपर मांसका बोझा ढोते, बिछौनोंपर पैर रखनेकी जगह सिर रखकर सोते, वे सब-के-सब मनुष्य उच्छिष्ट (अपवित्र) तथा बहुत- से छिद्रोंवाले माने गये हैं। जो पानीमें मल-मूत्र एवं थूक फेकते हैं, वे भी उच्छिष्टकी ही कोटिमें आते हैं। ये सभी मानव हमारी दृष्टिमें भक्षण और वधके योग्य हैं। इसमें संशय नहीं है
bhīṣma uvāca | pramathā ūcuḥ | maithunena sadocchiṣṭāḥ kṛte caivādharottare mohān māṃsāni khādet vṛkṣamūle ca yaḥ svapet |
The Pramathas spoke: “Those who are perpetually defiled through sexual indulgence, who in their conduct invert what is higher and lower (showing disrespect to elders and superiors), who out of delusion eat flesh, and who sleep at the foot of trees—such people are regarded as impure (as if ‘leftover’ and unfit), and as having many moral ‘flaws’ or ‘openings.’ In our view they fall into the class of those fit to be consumed and slain; of this there is no doubt.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage frames certain behaviors—sexual excess, disrespect toward elders/superiors, delusion-driven meat-eating, and socially marginal sleeping practices—as signs of ritual and moral impurity (ucchiṣṭatva). It reflects a dharma-oriented worldview where self-restraint, hierarchy of respect, and purity norms are treated as markers of ethical fitness.
Within Bhishma’s discourse in the Anushasana Parva, the Pramathas are quoted describing categories of people they deem impure and therefore, in their fierce perspective, 'fit to be consumed or slain.' The statement functions as a stark, punitive voice illustrating how transgression is judged in certain mythic-ethical frames.