Shloka 25
Kīṭopākhyāna: Prajā-pālana as Kṣatra-vrata and the Attainment of Brāhmaṇya
मां स भक्षयते यस्माद् भक्षयिष्ये तमप्यहम् । एतन्मांसस्य मांसत्वमनुबुद्ध्यस्व भारत
māṁ sa bhakṣayate yasmād bhakṣayiṣye tam apy aham | etan māṁsasya māṁsatvam anubuddhyasva bhārata, bharatanandana ||
Bhīṣma nói: “Vì hắn ăn ta, ta cũng sẽ ăn hắn. Đó chính là điều làm cho ‘thịt’ (māṁsa) là ‘thịt’: hỡi Bharata, hãy hiểu rằng ngay trong từ ấy đã hàm chỉ vòng luân hồi của sự ăn nuốt lẫn nhau và báo phục.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses a traditional wordplay on māṁsa (“meat/flesh”) to highlight the ethical idea of reciprocal harm: the one who is eaten ‘promises’ to eat the eater in turn. It frames meat-eating as participation in a cycle of violence and retaliation, urging moral reflection.
In Anushasana Parva, Bhishma is instructing Yudhishthira on dharma and ethical conduct. Here he explains the moral implication of consuming flesh by presenting the victim’s imagined statement—“he eats me, so I will eat him”—and then tells the listener to grasp this as the intended sense behind the term māṁsa.