Shloka 63
Ahiṃsā as Threefold Restraint (Mind–Speech–Action) and the Ethics of Consumption
कच्छपो दश वर्षाणि त्रीणि वर्षाणि शल्यक: । व्यालो भूत्वा च षण्मासांस्ततो जायति मानुष:
Yudhiṣṭhira uvāca:
Kacchapo daśa varṣāṇi trīṇi varṣāṇi śalyakaḥ |
Vyālo bhūtvā ca ṣaṇmāsāṁs tato jāyati mānuṣaḥ ||
कच्छपो दश वर्षाणि, त्रीणि वर्षाणि शल्यकः। व्यालो भूत्वा च षण्मासान्, ततः जायति मानुषः॥
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores karmic consequence and the graded movement through non-human forms before returning to human birth, implying that actions can lead to constrained existences and that human birth is regained after undergoing specific results.
Yudhiṣṭhira states a sequence of rebirth durations—tortoise for ten years, porcupine for three, serpent for six months—after which the being is born as a human again, as part of a discussion on the fruits of conduct and the workings of dharma.