The alleged verse "अहिंसा परमो धर्मः धर्म हिंसा तथीव च" is FAKE & NON EXISTENT in Mahābhārata & ENTIRE Sanskrit literature.

This fake verse was manufactured by a spiritual Baba in 20th century.

The ACTUAL verse is "अहिंसा परमो धर्मः तथा अहिंसा परो दमः" (Mahabharata 13.117.37) https://twitter.com/Ishu_nits/status/1241420344331620353

This alleged verse is quite popular in modern Hindu and Hindutva circles. It is often passed off as a verse from Mahābhārata. But it has ABSOLUTELY ZERO scriptural basis and is a modern creation.

Infact, NOWHERE in entire Sanskrit literature is हिंसा ever equated to धर्म

When you tell modern Hindus this verse is fake, their knee jerk reaction is "but this verse even if fake is essence of Mahābhārata which is about righteous war".

This misconception arises coz their understanding of what हिंसा entails is different from how ancients understood it

For instance, the person who actually utters "अहिंसा परमो धर्मः" in Mahābhārata is none other than Bhishma, the man who single-handedly slaughtered thousands of warriors who were fighting for Pāṇḍava/Pañcālas in the Mahābhārata battle, many of those being his friends/relatives

Clearly, Bhishma didn't mean "reluctance to fight battle" when he was talking about अहिंसा (this was Gandhi's distortion of the term).

What then was he talking about? Answer lies in context. Verse comes from Anuśāsanaparva. Bhishma utters it in response to Yudhiṣṭhira's query.

Yudhiṣṭhira asks his grandfather Bhishma about the merits of abstaining from consuming flesh of animals (tad icchāmi guṇāñ śrotuṃ māṃsasyābhakṣaṇe api vā.. (Mahabharata 13.117.4))

The entire chapter can be accessed online

https://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/mbs/mbs13117.htm

In response to Yudhiṣṭhira's query, Bhishma talks in length about merits of vegetarianism & demerits of consuming meat.

Bhishma uses the word हिंसा solely to allude to the torture & slaughter of animals. He condemns animal cruelty & in this context utters "अहिंसा परमो धर्मः"

While there are NUMEROUS instances in Mahābhārata of righteous dharmika Kshatriya kings and other communities consuming meat without any hesitation, Bhishma was an unabashed proponent of Vegetarianism (atleast in the Shanti and Anushasana Parvas).

The usage of the word and concept of अहिंसा in the context of just war and reluctance to fight battles is a modern Gandhian concept/distortion.

This might actually have necessitated manufacturing a fake verse like धर्म हिंसा तथीव च to counter the Gandhian distortion

The actual verse is

अहिंसा परमॊ धर्मस्तथाहिंसा परॊ दमः
अहिंसा परमं दानमहिंसा परमं तपः (Mahābhārata 13.117.37)

Meaning:

"Ahiṃsā is the greatest Dharma. Ahiṃsā is the greatest refuge. Ahiṃsā is the highest charity. Ahiṃsā is the greatest penance"

Apart from the instance mentioned above, the verse "अहिंसा परमो धर्मः" occurs 4 more times in the Mahabharata.

In Adiparva, it was a serpent of Dundubha species who utters this verse to a Brahmin named Ruru who used to k!ll snakes because his wife was bitten by one (MBH 1.11)

The snake transforms itself into Brahmin named Sahasrapat and utters this verse to Ruru

He says:

अहिंसा परमो धर्मः सर्वप्राणभृतां स्मृतः तस्मात्प्राणभृतः सर्वान्न हिंस्याद्ब्राह्मणः क्वचित् (1.11)

"Ahimsa is the the greatest dharma. A Brahmin must not slay any living creature"

The verse also occurs in the Vana Parva (3.198) where the righteous Dharmavyadha utters it in the context of non-injury towards animals.

Dharmavyadha tells Kaushika that he himself does not slay or eat animals, but selling animal meat is his svadharma & profession

As can be seen, the verse "अहिंसा परमॊ धर्मः" occurs only in opposition to animal cruelty in every single instance. It had nothing to do with reluctance to fight wars