Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, 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 ||
毗湿摩说道：“因他食我，我亦将食他。”这正是“肉”(māṁsa)之所以为“肉”的缘由：婆罗多啊，当明白此词本身便指向相互吞食、相互报复的轮回。
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.