Shloka 8
Sāma (Sāntva) and Dāna: The Brāhmaṇa’s Conciliatory Release from a Rākṣasa
अस्मिंस्तृप्ते च नृप्पन्ते पितरो दैवतानि च । न हि श्रुतवतां किंचिदधिकं ब्राह्मणादृते
asmiṁs tṛpte ca nṛpānte pitaro daivatāni ca | na hi śrutavatāṁ kiñcid adhikaṁ brāhmaṇād ṛte ||
Maitreya said: “When, in a king’s household, a Brahmin is satisfied, the gods and the ancestors (Pitṛs) too become satisfied. For those who are learned in sacred tradition, there is nothing more worthy of honor than a Brahmin.”
मैत्रेय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Honoring and satisfying a worthy Brahmin—especially through proper hospitality and gifts—is presented as a dharmic act whose merit extends beyond the immediate recipient, reaching both the gods and the ancestors; thus, for the learned, the Brahmin is a foremost object of reverence.
Maitreya is instructing within the Anuśāsana Parva’s ethical-discursive setting, emphasizing to the royal listener(s) that the king’s support of Brahmins is not merely social courtesy but a religiously efficacious act connected to deva- and pitṛ-satisfaction.