Shloka 17
Adhyāya 115: On Restraint Under Verbal Provocation in the Assembly (सभायां आक्रोश-सहिष्णुता)
मनुष्यशालावृकमप्रशान्तं जनापवादे सतत निविष्टम् । मातड्मुन्मत्तमिवोन्नदन्तं त्यजेत तं श्वानमिवातिरौद्रम्
bhīṣma uvāca | manuṣyaśālāvṛkam apraśāntaṁ janāpavāde satataṁ niviṣṭam | mātaṅga-unmattam ivonnadantaṁ tyajeta taṁ śvānām ivātiraudram ||
Bhishma said: One who is constantly absorbed in slandering people is like a wolf dwelling in the house that is the human body—ever unquiet. Like an intoxicated elephant he bellows, and like a fiercely savage dog he rushes to bite. A noble person should abandon such a man completely.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Persistent slander is portrayed as predatory and destructive; the ethical instruction is that a virtuous person should avoid and abandon those who habitually malign others, since such company undermines peace, character, and dharma.
In Bhishma’s discourse on righteous conduct in the Shanti Parva, he warns about a particular harmful type of person—the habitual slanderer—using vivid animal similes (wolf, mad elephant, savage dog) to stress the danger and the need for deliberate avoidance.