Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 161
इति श्रीमहाभारते अनुशासनपर्वणि दानधर्मपर्वणि महेश्वरमाहात्म्यं नाम एकषष्ट्यधिकशततमो< ध्याय:
iti śrīmahābhārate anuśāsanaparvaṇi dānadharmaparvaṇi maheśvaramāhātmyaṃ nāma ekaṣaṣṭyadhikaśatatamo 'dhyāyaḥ
Thus, in the Śrī Mahābhārata, within the Anuśāsana Parva and specifically in the section on the dharma of giving, the chapter entitled “The Greatness of Maheśvara” comes to an end—this being the one-hundred-and-sixty-first chapter. The colophon formally closes the teaching, framing the preceding discourse as part of the ethical tradition of dāna (generosity) and devotion to Śiva (Maheśvara).
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
This verse is a colophon rather than a new doctrinal statement: it frames the preceding material as instruction in dāna-dharma (the ethics of giving) and as a māhātmya (glorification) of Maheśvara (Śiva), signaling that generosity and devotion are being presented as central virtues within this section.
The chapter formally concludes. The text identifies the larger book (Anuśāsana Parva), the internal section (Dāna-dharma Parva), the chapter’s title/theme (Maheśvara-māhātmya), and its ordinal number (161st), marking the end of that adhyāya.