Shloka 363
तद्विकारांश्व वाहीका: खादन्ति च पिबन्ति च | किसी दिद्वान् ब्राह्मणने साधु पुरुषोंकी सभामें यह भी कहा था कि “बाहीक देशके लोग काठके कुण्डों तथा मिट्टीके बर्तनोंमें जहाँ सत्तू और मदिरा लिपटे होते हैं और जिन्हें कुत्ते चाटते रहते हैं, घृणाशून्य होकर भोजन करते हैं। बाहीक देशके निवासी भेड़, ऊँटनी और गदहीके दूध पीते और उसी दूधके बने हुए दही-घी आदि भी खाते हैं
tadvikārāṃś ca vāhīkāḥ khādanti ca pibanti ca |
Karna says that the Vāhīkas, devoid of shame, eat and drink even such impure, degraded things—an accusation meant to portray them as culturally and ritually fallen. In the ethical frame of the epic, this is a polemical denunciation: Karna uses contempt and notions of purity to discredit a people, intensifying hostility and moral othering amid the war narrative.
कर्ण उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse illustrates how contempt and purity-based rhetoric can be weaponized in conflict: Karna frames an entire community as shameless and impure to delegitimize them. Ethically, it serves as a cautionary example of moral othering and the degradation of discourse during war.
In Karṇa Parva, Karna is speaking harshly about the Vāhīkas, asserting that they eat and drink degraded ‘products’ (vikāras). The surrounding prose in the Gītā Press edition expands this into a broader denunciation of their food and drink habits to portray them as socially and ritually fallen.