Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 4
दानशील-समाचारः, सत्कारः, अहिंसा च
Umā–Maheśvara Saṃvāda
भोजनं च यथाशतत्या ब्राह्मणे वेदपारगे । पशुबन्धशतस्येह फल प्राप्रोति पुष्कलम्
Dhaumya uvāca— bhojanaṁ ca yathāśaktyā brāhmaṇe vedapārage | paśubandhaśatasyeha phalaṁ prāpnoti puṣkalam ||
Dhaumya said: If a person, according to his means, provides a meal to a Brāhmaṇa fully versed in the Vedas, he gains here an abundant reward—the complete fruit equivalent to a hundred animal-sacrifices. The verse upholds sincere, capacity-based hospitality to the learned as a powerful act of dharma, yielding merit akin to great rituals.
धौग्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
That feeding a truly Veda-learned Brāhmaṇa, even modestly and strictly according to one’s means, is a highly meritorious dharmic act—so potent that it is said to equal the fruit of a hundred animal-sacrifices.
Dhaumya is instructing on dharma by praising a concrete practice of giving—providing food to a Veda-versed Brāhmaṇa—and stating its spiritual reward in the traditional idiom of sacrificial merit.