DAsa-bhuk condemnation

Source: TW

Bhīșma narrates the story of Jajali, a Brāhmaņa ascetic who thinks he is unrivaled due to his ascetic prowess, who is asked by some submarine piśācas to not boast when even Tulādhāra, a righteous Vaiśya, could not make such a boast & he (Tulādhāra) excelled Jājali in wisdom.

Upon being directed to Tulādhāra’s residence, Jajāli asks him for the higher knowledge that has exalted him. In the context of this discourse, enslavement of humans by humans is brought up and is implicitly condemned (by expressly condemning the relatively lesser evil of subjecting animals to pain as equal to Bhrūņahatya)— mānuṣā mānuṣāneva dāsabhogena bhuñjate ||38||—referring to humans enjoying/“feeding on” humans in the form of slave labour.

What is especially interesting is the value of both human and animal life is described in terms of the many deities who dwell in the body— This is an example of a moral insight flowing from an expressly stated polytheist praxis & worldview— something Abrahmas wrongly argue is possible only in a monotheist framework.

Men feeding upon men

Side-note: Reflecting further, the condemnation of men “feeding upon” men can be traced to the Śruti—see this passage from the Śatapatha-Brāhmaņa, which, though given in a ritual context, does appear to me to provide a theological basis for a broader moral understanding:

atha hainam vāgabhyuvāda
puruṣa mā santiṣṭhipo
yadi saṃsthāpayiṣyasi
puruṣa eva puruṣam atsyatīti tān paryagnikṛtān evodasṛjat
tad devatyā āhutīr ajuhot
tābhis tā devatā aprīṇāt
tā enam prītā aprīṇant sarvaiḥ kāmaiḥ
“puruṣa eva puruṣamatsyati”

See: https://wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/satapatha-brahmana-sanskrit/d/doc1057584.html

bandhana

MS 5.46 says that the one who doesn’t want to pain beings through ‘bandhana’ and ‘vadha’, attains lasting peace/happiness. Slavery is also a kind of ‘bandhana’ which generates pain. Manu states great rewards for not doing it. - SS