Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 70, Shloka 17
Adhyaya 70 — The King Confronts the Rakshasa and Restores the Brahmin’s Wife
स्वभावञ्च मनुष्याणां योषिताञ्च विमानिताः ।
मानिताश्च समश्नीमो न वयं जन्तुखादकाः ॥
svabhāvañ ca manuṣyāṇāṃ yoṣitāñ ca vimānitāḥ | mānitāś ca samaśnīmo na vayaṃ jantukhādakāḥ ||
“我们吞食的是人的本性——以及女子在受辱之时的本性；即便在受敬之时，我们也吞食那同一性情。我们并非吞噬有命众生者。”
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FAQs
The verse underscores how social harm—humiliation, manipulation of honor, exploitation of desire—can be as destructive as physical violence. Dharma requires guarding speech, dignity, and social conduct.
Didactic narrative (upākhyāna) illustrating dharma/adharma in lived social relations rather than cosmology or genealogy.
Rākṣasas here function as personifications of psychological ‘feeders’—forces that thrive on ego-inflation and ego-wounding (praise/blame), draining sattva.