Shloka 19
Aṣṭāvakra–Kahoda Upākhyāna: Śvetaketu’s Āśrama, Sarasvatī, and the Origin of Aṣṭāvakra
बाज बोला--महाराज! मैं न सूअर खाऊँगा, न कोई उत्तम पशु और न भाँति-भाँतिके मृगोंका ही आहार करूँगा। दूसरी किसी वस्तुसे भी मुझे क्या लेना है? ।। यस्तु मे देवविहितो भक्ष:ः क्षत्रियपुड़व । तमुत्सूज महीपाल कपोतमिममेव मे,क्षत्रियशिरोमणे! विधाताने मेरे लिये जो भोजन नियत किया है वह तो यह कबूतर ही है; अत: भूपाल! इसीको मेरे लिये छोड़ दीजिये
śyena uvāca—yastu me devavihito bhakṣaḥ kṣatriyapuṅgava | tam utsṛja mahīpāla kapotam imam eva me || kṣatriyaśiromaṇe vidhātā me yad āhāraṃ niyataṃ sa eṣa kapota eva | ato bhūpāla imam eva me parityaja ||
The hawk said: “O best of kṣatriyas, the food ordained for me by the gods is this very pigeon. Therefore, O king, release it to me. I have no need of any other fare; what the Creator has assigned as my sustenance is precisely this.”
श्येन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a dharma-conflict: compassion toward the weak versus the predator’s natural and divinely allotted sustenance. It highlights that ethical judgment in the Mahābhārata often involves competing duties (rakṣaṇa/protection by the king, and svabhāva/assigned role of beings), requiring a just resolution rather than a simplistic rule.
A pigeon has sought refuge with a king, and a hawk demands the pigeon as its rightful prey. The hawk argues that this pigeon is the very food ordained for it by the Creator, and asks the king to release the pigeon to fulfill that divinely fixed order.