Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 117
Ahiṃsā as Threefold Restraint (Mind–Speech–Action) and the Ethics of Consumption
स्त्रियं हत्वा तु दुर्बद्धिर्यमस्य विषयं गत: । बहून् क्लेशान् समासाद्य संसारांश्चैव विंशतिम्
striyaṁ hatvā tu durbuddhir yamasya viṣayaṁ gataḥ | bahūn kleśān samāsādya saṁsārāṁś caiva viṁśatim ||
ವಿಕೃತಬುದ್ಧಿಯುಳ್ಳ ಪುರುಷನು ಸ್ತ್ರೀಯನ್ನು ಹತ್ಯೆ ಮಾಡಿದರೆ, ಅವನು ಯಮನ ಲೋಕವನ್ನು ಸೇರುತ್ತಾನೆ. ಅಲ್ಲಿ ಅನೇಕ ವಿಧದ ಯಾತನೆಗಳನ್ನು ಅನುಭವಿಸಿ, ನಂತರ ದುಃಖಭರಿತ ಯೋನಿಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಇಪ್ಪತ್ತು ಬಾರಿ ಜನ್ಮ ಪಡೆಯುತ್ತಾನೆ.
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse asserts a strong dharmic prohibition against harming women: killing a woman is portrayed as a grave adharma that leads to post-mortem punishment in Yama’s realm and repeated painful rebirths, emphasizing karmic accountability and social-ethical restraint.
In the Anuśāsana Parva’s instruction on dharma, Yudhiṣṭhira speaks a warning statement: he describes the fate of a wrong-minded person who commits the act of killing a woman—first suffering in Yama’s jurisdiction and then undergoing multiple sorrowful rebirths.