Varaha Purana 8.19: Adhyaya 8, Shloka 19
Dialogue on the Ethical Limits of Subsistence and the Five Great Sacrifices
Dharmavyādha, Mātaṅga, and Prasanna
व्याध उवाच । भोजनं किञ्चिदिच्छामि भोक्तुं चैतन्यवर्जितम् । कौतूहलेन येनाहमागतो भवतो गृहम् ॥ ८.१९ ॥
vyādha uvāca | bhojanaṃ kiñcid icchāmi bhoktuṃ caitanya-varjitam | kautūhalena yenāham āgato bhavato gṛham || 8.19 ||
พรานกล่าวว่า “ข้าพเจ้าปรารถนาจะกินอาหารเพียงเล็กน้อย—อาหารที่ปราศจากจิตสำนึก (ไม่ใช่สิ่งมีชีวิต) ด้วยความใคร่รู้เช่นนี้เอง ข้าพเจ้าจึงมาถึงเรือนของท่าน”
Vyādha (hunter)
FAQs
It illustrates a Purāṇic narrative technique where ethical inquiry is framed through dialogue; here, the speaker explicitly raises the question of what constitutes permissible food by invoking “absence of consciousness” as a criterion.
No geographic location is named in this verse; the only setting detail is a domestic space (“your house”), which functions as a narrative locus rather than a toponym.
The verse foregrounds an ethical distinction based on sentience (caitanya), implying that moral evaluation of consumption can be linked to whether the consumed entity is considered conscious or non-conscious.
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