Shloka 2

Pānīya-dāna and Anna-dāna: The Primacy of Life-Sustaining Gifts (पानीयदान-प्रशंसा / अन्नदान-प्रशंसा)

Devanagari script

केन तुष्यन्ति ते सद्यः किं तुष्टा: प्रदिशन्ति च । शंस मे तन्‍्महाबाहो फल पुण्यकृतं महत्‌,किस वस्तुके देनेसे ब्राह्मण तुरन्त प्रसन्न हो जाते हैं? और प्रसन्न होकर क्या देते हैं? महाबाहो! अब मुझे दानजनित महान्‌ पुण्यका फल बताइये

Transliteration

kena tuṣyanti te sadyaḥ kiṁ tuṣṭāḥ pradiśanti ca | śaṁsa me tan mahābāho phalaṁ puṇyakṛtaṁ mahat ||

Translation

Yudhiṣṭhira sprach: „Durch welche Gabe werden jene Brahmanen sogleich zufrieden, und, zufrieden geworden, was gewähren sie als Gegengabe? O Starkarmiger, sage mir die große Frucht, den erhabenen Verdienst, der aus dem Geben erwächst.“

Word by Word

• {'kena': 'by what? by which means or gift (instrumental of ‘kim’)', 'tuṣyanti': 'are satisfied, become pleased', 'te': 'they (here: brāhmaṇas, implied by context)', 'sadyaḥ': 'immediately, at once', 'kim': 'what?', 'tuṣṭāḥ': 'being satisfied

• pleased (past participle)', 'pradiśanti': 'grant, bestow, confer (in return or as a blessing)', 'ca': 'and', 'śaṁsa': 'tell, declare, explain', 'me': 'to me', 'tat': 'that (matter)', 'mahābāho': 'O mighty-armed one (honorific address)', 'phalam': 'fruit, result, outcome', 'puṇyakṛtam': 'produced by merit

• arising from virtuous action (especially dāna)', 'mahat': 'great, lofty, abundant'}

Speaker

युधिछ्िर उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Yudhiṣṭhira
• Brāhmaṇas (implied)
• Mahābāhu (addressee, implied)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames dāna (giving) as a central ethical practice: Yudhiṣṭhira seeks to know which forms of giving most quickly bring genuine satisfaction to worthy recipients (brāhmaṇas) and what spiritual or moral ‘fruit’ (phala/puṇya) such giving yields. It sets up a discussion on discerning, purposeful charity rather than indiscriminate giving.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Anuśāsana Parva’s instruction on dharma, Yudhiṣṭhira questions the revered instructor (addressed as ‘Mahābāhu’) about the immediate effects of gifts: what makes brāhmaṇas pleased and what blessings or benefits they confer when pleased, and he asks for an account of the great merit resulting from charitable acts.