Shloka 18
पाण्डोः प्रेतकार्य-सम्पादनम्
Pāṇḍu’s Funeral Rites and Public Mourning
मृग उवाच नाहं घ्नन्तं मृगान् राजन् विगहें चात्मकारणात् | मैथुन तु प्रतीक्ष्यं मे त्वयेहाद्यानृशंस्यत:,मृगने कहा--राजन्! मैं अपने मारे जानेके कारण इस बातके लिये तुम्हारी निन्दा नहीं करता कि तुम मृगोंको मारते हो। मुझे तो इतना ही कहना है कि तुम्हें दयाभावका आश्रय लेकर मेरे मैथुनकर्मसे निवृत्त होनेतक प्रतीक्षा करनी चाहिये थी
mṛga uvāca: nāhaṃ ghnantaṃ mṛgān rājan vigahe cātma-kāraṇāt | maithunaṃ tu pratīkṣyaṃ me tvayehādyānṛśaṃsyataḥ ||
The deer said: “O King, I do not reproach you for killing deer, even though I myself am the cause of this death. Yet, out of compassion, you ought to have waited here until I had finished the act of mating.”
मृग उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even where violence is socially permitted (such as hunting), dharma demands restraint and compassion; one should avoid needless cruelty and wait rather than strike at a moment that adds indignity or suffering.
A deer, addressed to a king who has shot or is about to kill it, says it does not blame him for hunting, but criticizes the lack of compassion in not waiting until the deer had completed mating.