Shloka 583
Adhyāya 166: Kṛtaghna-doṣa (कृतघ्नदोषः) — the fault of ingratitude and the limits of expiation
उक्त: पशुसमो दोषो राजन् प्राणिनिपातनात् । कुत्ते
bhīṣma uvāca | uktaḥ paśusamo doṣo rājan prāṇinipātanāt | kutte sūkara-gardabhān hatvā manuṣyaḥ śūdravadha-sambandhi-vratasyaiva ācaraṇaṃ kuryāt | rājan! mārjāra-nīlakaṇṭha-maṇḍūka-kāka-sarpa-mūṣakādi-prāṇināṃ vadhenāpi ukta-paśuvadha-samo doṣaḥ proktaḥ |
Bhishma said: “O King, it has been declared that the fault incurred by taking the life of living beings is comparable to the sin of killing a beast. If a man kills a dog, a pig, or a donkey, he should be regarded as having to undertake the expiatory observance prescribed for the killing of a Śūdra. O King, even by killing creatures such as a cat, a peacock, a frog, a crow, a snake, or a mouse, one is said to incur a sin equal to that same animal-slaughter previously described. The teaching emphasizes restraint from needless harm and the ethical gravity of violence toward living beings.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage teaches that taking life (prāṇinipātana) carries serious moral fault, and that killing even commonly disregarded animals is treated as a grave ethical transgression, requiring expiatory discipline; it reinforces restraint and non-violence as part of dharma.
In the Śānti Parva, Bhishma instructs King Yudhishthira on dharma after the war. Here he explains the demerit attached to killing various creatures and links such acts to prescribed expiations, framing the king’s governance and personal conduct around ethical accountability.