Vālmiki in Vyāsa
The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose (The Bard, The Merchant of Venice) Context In the Drona Parva, Bhūriśravas is engaged in a battle with Sātyaki. He renders Sātyaki unconscious and almost beheads him. Arjuna - urged by Krishna - intervenes to dismember Bhūriśravas's arm, leading to one of those excellent exchanges about the fuzziness of morality in the battlefield, that Mahabharatham is replete with. The enervated Bhūriśravas sheds his arms and begins to fast to death on the battlefriend. But Satyaki regains consciousness and beheads him. The entire Kaurava army rails at him for his un-Kshatriya-like action. And Satyaki defends his actions elaborately. As a final point when making his case he says: M.N.Dutt translates the verses thus: Kisari Mohan Ganguly, who translated the Mahabharatham chapter by chapter says thus: In days of yore, Valmiki sang this verse on earth, viz., 'Thou sayest, O ape, that women should not be slain. In all ages, howeve...