Shloka 25
Kīṭopākhyāna: Prajā-pālana as Kṣatra-vrata and the Attainment of Brāhmaṇya
मां स भक्षयते यस्माद् भक्षयिष्ये तमप्यहम् । एतन्मांसस्य मांसत्वमनुबुद्ध्यस्व भारत
māṁ sa bhakṣayate yasmād bhakṣayiṣye tam apy aham | etan māṁsasya māṁsatvam anubuddhyasva bhārata, bharatanandana ||
Bhīṣma dit : «Parce qu’il me mange, moi aussi je le mangerai.» C’est là, précisément, ce qui fait de la ‘chair’ (māṁsa) de la chair : comprends, ô Bharata, que le mot même désigne ce cycle de consommation réciproque et de représailles.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses a traditional wordplay on māṁsa (“meat/flesh”) to highlight the ethical idea of reciprocal harm: the one who is eaten ‘promises’ to eat the eater in turn. It frames meat-eating as participation in a cycle of violence and retaliation, urging moral reflection.
In Anushasana Parva, Bhishma is instructing Yudhishthira on dharma and ethical conduct. Here he explains the moral implication of consuming flesh by presenting the victim’s imagined statement—“he eats me, so I will eat him”—and then tells the listener to grasp this as the intended sense behind the term māṁsa.