Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 29

Adhyāya 119: Vyāsa–Kīṭa-saṃvāda

Tapas-bala and karmic ascent across yoni

Devanagari script

यदि चेत्‌ खादको न स्यान्न तदा घातको भवेत्‌ | घातक: खादकार्थाय तद्‌ घातयति वै नरः

Transliteration

yadi cet khādako na syān na tadā ghātako bhavet | ghātakaḥ khādakārthāya tad ghātayati vai naraḥ ||

Translation

毗湿摩说道：“若世间无人食肉，则亦无人为屠者。正是为满足食肉之人，杀生者才使众生被杀。”

Word by Word

• यदि: if
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: यदि

• चेत्: indeed/if (emphatic particle)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: चेत्

• खादकः: eater (of meat)
• खादकः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: खादक
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• न: not
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: न

• स्यात्: would be
• Type: Verb
• Root: अस्
• Form: Optative (Vidhi-lin), 3rd, Singular, Parasmaipada

• न: not
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: न

• तदा: then
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तदा

• घातकः: killer/slayer
• घातकः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: घातक
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• भवेत्: would become/would be
• Type: Verb
• Root: भू
• Form: Optative (Vidhi-lin), 3rd, Singular, Parasmaipada

• घातकः: the killer
• घातकः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: घातक
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• खादक-अर्थाय: for the sake of the eater(s)
• खादक-अर्थाय: Sampradana
• Type: Noun
• Root: खादक + अर्थ
• Form: Masculine, Dative, Singular

• तत्: that (animal/it)
• तत्: Karma
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: तद्
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• घातयति: causes to be killed/gets killed
• Type: Verb
• Root: हन् (णिच्: घातय-)
• Form: Present (Lat), 3rd, Singular, Parasmaipada, Causative (ṇic)

• वै: indeed
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: वै

• नरः: man/person
• नरः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: नर
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse links demand to violence: if people do not desire meat, the social incentive for slaughter disappears. Ethical responsibility is extended beyond the direct killer to the consumer whose appetite sustains killing.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Bhishma’s instruction on dharma, he argues for non-violence by explaining the causal chain behind animal slaughter: the killer acts to supply those who eat flesh.