Shloka 17
Adhyaya 70 — The King Confronts the Rakshasa and Restores the Brahmin’s Wife
स्वभावञ्च मनुष्याणां योषिताञ्च विमानिताः ।
मानिताश्च समश्नीमो न वयं जन्तुखादकाः ॥
svabhāvañ ca manuṣyāṇāṃ yoṣitāñ ca vimānitāḥ | mānitāś ca samaśnīmo na vayaṃ jantukhādakāḥ ||
“We consume the very nature of humans—and of women when they are dishonored; and even when they are honored, we consume that too. We are not devourers of living beings.”
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FAQs
The verse underscores how social harm—humiliation, manipulation of honor, exploitation of desire—can be as destructive as physical violence. Dharma requires guarding speech, dignity, and social conduct.
Didactic narrative (upākhyāna) illustrating dharma/adharma in lived social relations rather than cosmology or genealogy.
Rākṣasas here function as personifications of psychological ‘feeders’—forces that thrive on ego-inflation and ego-wounding (praise/blame), draining sattva.