Shloka 3

छत्रोपानहदानफलप्रशंसा — Praise of the Merit of Donating Umbrella and Footwear

Devanagari script

बहुष्वपि निमित्तेषु पुण्यमाश्रित्य दीयते । एतद्‌ू विस्तरशो राजन्‌ श्रोतुमिच्छामि तत्त्वतः

Transliteration

bahuṣv api nimitteṣu puṇyam āśritya dīyate | etad ū vistaraśo rājan śrotum icchāmi tattvataḥ |

Translation

قال يودهيشثيرا: «في مناسباتٍ كثيرة وبواعث شتّى تُعطى هذه الأشياء ابتغاءَ الثواب (puṇya). أيها الملك، أودّ أن أسمع هذا الأمر مفصّلًا، على وجه الحقيقة كما هو.»

Word by Word

• {'bahuṣu': 'in many (situations/instances)', 'api': 'also

• even', 'nimitteṣu': 'in occasions, causes, prompting circumstances', 'puṇyam': 'merit

• auspicious spiritual credit', 'āśritya': 'having resorted to

• taking as the basis/aim', 'dīyate': 'is given

• is bestowed (passive of √dā, ‘to give’)', 'etat': 'this (matter/teaching)', 'ū': 'indeed

• emphatic particle (often metrical/intonational)', 'vistaraśaḥ': 'in detail

• expansively', 'rājan': 'O King (vocative)', 'śrotum': 'to hear (infinitive of √śru)', 'icchāmi': 'I desire

• I wish', 'tattvataḥ': 'in truth

Speaker

युधिछिर उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Yudhiṣṭhira
• King (rājan, addressee)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Meritorious giving (dāna) is not confined to a single ritual moment; it arises across many occasions (nimitta). The verse frames charity as an ethical practice oriented toward puṇya, and it emphasizes the need to understand the principles of giving accurately (tattvataḥ) and in detail (vistaraśaḥ).

What is happening in the narrative?

Yudhiṣṭhira addresses a kingly teacher (in this parva, typically Bhīṣma instructing him) and requests a detailed, truthful explanation of the various occasions and reasons for which people give gifts seeking merit.