Shloka 50
दानफलप्रकरणम् — उपानहदानं, तिलदानं, भूमिदानं, गोदानं, अन्नदानं च
Gifts and Their Stated Results: Footwear, Sesame, Land, Cows, and Food
सब लोग पृथ्वीपर ही जन्म लेते और पृथ्वीमें ही लीन हो जाते हैं। अण्डज, जरायुज, स्वेदज और उद्धिज्ज--इन चारों प्रकारके प्राणियोंका शरीर पृथ्वीका ही कार्य है ।।
sarve lokāḥ pṛthivyām eva janma labhante pṛthivyām eva ca līyante | aṇḍajā jarāyujāḥ svedajā uddbhijjaś ceti caturvidhānāṃ prāṇināṃ śarīraṃ pṛthivyā eva kāryam || eṣā mātā pitā caiva jagataḥ pṛthivīpate | nānyayā sadṛśaṃ bhūtaṃ kiñcid asti janādhipa ||
Bhīṣma sprach: Alle Wesen werden auf der Erde geboren und gehen am Ende wieder in die Erde ein. Die Leiber der vier Arten von Lebewesen—aus Eiern Geborene, aus dem Mutterleib Geborene, aus Schweiß Entstandene und aus Sprossen Hervorgegangene—sind allesamt allein aus Erde geformt. Darum, o Herr der Erde, ist diese Erde wahrhaft Mutter und Vater der Welt; o Herrscher der Menschen, nichts ist ihr vergleichbar.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma teaches reverence for Earth as the universal source and final resting place of embodied life. Since all bodies arise from and return to earth, a king should protect the land and treat it as a parent—worthy of gratitude, restraint in exploitation, and righteous governance.
In the Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and royal duties. Here he emphasizes a cosmological-ethical point: all beings, across the traditional four modes of birth, are materially constituted from earth; thus Earth is praised as incomparable and parental to the world.