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Shloka 21

Pātra-Lakṣaṇa and Niścita-Dharma

Marks of a Worthy Recipient and Stable Criteria of Dharma

Devanagari script

इति श्रीमहाभारते अनुशासनपर्वणि दानधर्मपर्वणि अष्टावक्रदिक्संवादे एकविंशो<5ध्याय:

Transliteration

iti śrīmahābhārate anuśāsanaparvaṇi dānadharmaparvaṇi aṣṭāvakradiksaṃvāde ekaviṃśo 'dhyāyaḥ

Translation

Thus ends the twenty-first chapter in the Anuśāsana Parva of the Śrī Mahābhārata, within the section on the dharma of gifts and charity, in the dialogue between Aṣṭāvakra and the Directions (Dik).

Word by Word

इतिthus; so (end-quotation marker)

श्रीमहाभारतेin the venerable Mahabharata

अनुशासनपर्वणिin the Anushasana Parva

दानधर्मपर्वणिin the section on the dharma of giving

अष्टावक्रदिक्संवादेin the dialogue of Ashtavakra and Dik (the quarters)

एकविंशःtwenty-first

अध्यायःchapter

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

Śrī Mahābhārata

Anuśāsana Parva

Dāna-dharma (section)

Aṣṭāvakra

Dik

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

This line is a colophon rather than a doctrinal verse: it signals that the chapter’s instruction—situated in the dharma of giving—has concluded, emphasizing the Mahābhārata’s framing of charity as an ethical discipline taught through authoritative dialogue.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhīṣma’s discourse (as part of the Anuśāsana Parva) has reached the end of a chapter presented as the Aṣṭāvakra–Dik dialogue within the charity/dāna section; the text formally closes the chapter with this concluding formula.