Shloka 26
Kīṭopākhyāna: Prajā-pālana as Kṣatra-vrata and the Attainment of Brāhmaṇya
घातको वध्यते नित्यं तथा वध्यति भक्षिता । आक्रोष्टा क्रुध्यते राजंस्तथा द्वेष्यत्वमाप्तुते
ghātako vadhyate nityaṃ tathā vadhyati bhakṣitā | ākroṣṭā krudhyate rājan tathā dveṣyatvam āpnute ||
Bhīṣma dit : «Ô Roi, le meurtrier est toujours tué à son tour ; de même, celui qui a été mangé revient pour tuer celui qui l’a mangé. Et celui qui outrage autrui devient, en retour, l’objet de la colère et de la haine des autres.»
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Actions rebound upon the doer: violence invites counter-violence, and abusive speech brings anger and hatred back upon the speaker. The verse frames this as a moral law of retribution (karma) that discourages harm in deed and word.
In Anushasana Parva, Bhishma instructs King Yudhishthira on dharma. Here he warns about the cyclical consequences of killing and of insulting others, emphasizing that one’s conduct shapes the hostility one later faces.