Shloka 21
कुमाराभिषेकप्रश्नः — Inquiry into Kumāra (Skanda) Investiture at Sarasvatī
“स्त्रियाँ अपने योनिदोषजनित पाप (व्यभिचार)-से राक्षसी हो जाती हैं। इसी प्रकार क्षत्रिय, वैश्य और शूद्वरोंमेंसे जो लोग ब्राह्मणोंसे द्वेष करते हैं, वे भी इस जगत्में राक्षस होते हैं
striyaḥ sva-yoni-doṣa-janita-pāpena (vyabhicāreṇa) rākṣasī-bhavanti | evaṃ kṣatriya-vaiśya-śūdreṣu ye brāhmaṇa-dveṣiṇaḥ, te 'pi asmin jagati rākṣasā bhavanti ||
毗舍波耶那说道：“妇女因由‘胎宫之过’所生之罪——即通奸——而呈现罗刹女般的性情。同样地，在刹帝利、吠舍与首陀罗之中，凡对婆罗门怀恨者，于此世亦当视为罗刹。”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames certain actions and attitudes as spiritually and socially destructive: sexual transgression (vyabhicāra) and, especially, hatred toward brāhmaṇas (brāhmaṇa-dveṣa). Such conduct is said to make a person ‘rākṣasa-like’—i.e., aligned with cruelty, disorder, and adharma—within the moral universe of the epic.
Vaiśampāyana, the narrator, delivers a moral characterization while recounting events in the Śalya Parva. He pauses the story to state a general ethical judgment: those who commit adultery or who hate brāhmaṇas are to be regarded as rākṣasas in this world, reinforcing the epic’s concern with dharma and social-religious norms.