Vicikhna

Vicikhna Mahārāja was a king who gave the Vicakhyu-Gītā. This teaching is found in the Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, Chapter 265. It praises ahiṃsā (non-violence) as the highest dharma, higher than every form of yajña (fire ritual) that involves harm.

Vicikhna is one of several royal figures in the Mokshadharma Parva who show that the commitment to ahiṃsā as the ground of all dharma is not only for the renunciant āśramas (stages of life). Kings can hold it and live by it too.

The Vicakhyu-Gītā

The Gītā of Vicikhna comes in the Mokshadharma Parva’s long discussion on the relationship between yajña and ahiṃsā. The discussion includes the animal yajña that the texts prescribe. Vicikhna taught two points.

Hiṃsā harms śraddhā

Killing may be wrapped in the protection of ritual rules. Even so, the inner act of wishing harm to another being wears away śraddhā (faith), which is the ground of true spiritual practice. A harmful act damages the one who does it, even when it meets an outward rule of the texts.

Ahiṃsā is the complete yajña

A person who has set ahiṃsā in body, speech and mind (kāyika, vācika, mānasika) has done the complete inner yajña. The outer animal yajña was meant to point toward this inner yajña. The inner yajña is the fulfilment. The outer yajña is an early form that the fully developed practitioner goes beyond.

A king who teaches ahiṃsā

Vicikhna was a king. People often link ahiṃsā with the life of renunciants. A king who holds ahiṃsā as the highest principle, and who rules and protects by other means, shows that the principle is for everyone.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, Chapter 265