Anushasana Parva Adhyaya 93 Shloka 23 - Mahabharata | English | Vedapath

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Shloka 23

अनुशासनपर्व अध्याय ९३ — तपस्, सदोपवास, विघसाशन, अतिथिप्रियता

Austerity, regulated fasting, residual-eating, and hospitality

Devanagari script

अपांक्तो यावतः पांक्तान्‌ भुज्जानाननुपश्यति । तावत्फलाद भ्रंशयति दातारं तस्य बालिशम्‌

Transliteration

apāṅkto yāvataḥ pāṅktān bhuñjānān anupaśyati | tāvatphalād bhraṁśayati dātāraṁ tasya bāliśam ||

Translation

Bhīṣma said: So long as an unfit person (apāṅkta) keeps looking upon the qualified Brāhmaṇas who are eating in the proper row (pāṅkta), he deprives that foolish donor of merit equal to the number of recipients he has thus beheld. Therefore the donor must guard the sanctity of the dining line; allowing a “line-defiler” to intrude—or even to oversee the rite with his gaze—undermines the ethical and ritual fruit of the gift.

Word by Word

अपाङ्क्तःone who is outside the (proper) row; a row-defiler

यावतःas many as

पाङ्क्तान्those fit to sit in the row (properly row-eligible)

भुञ्जानान्eating, partaking (of food)

अनुपश्यतिsees, observes

तावत्so much; to that extent

फलात्from (the) fruit/result (of the gift)

भ्रंशयतिcauses to fall away; deprives

दातारम्the giver/donor

तस्यof him; his

बालिशम्foolish, simple-minded

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhishma

donor (dātā)

qualified Brāhmaṇas in the dining row (pāṅktāḥ)

unqualified person / paṅkti-dūṣaka (apāṅktaḥ)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Charity and ritual feeding yield merit only when performed with discernment and proper boundaries; permitting an unqualified ‘line-defiler’ to intrude upon or oversee the feeding can nullify the donor’s merit in proportion to the number of rightful diners affected.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on the ethics of dāna and śrāddha-style feeding: he warns that if an apāṅkta person observes the properly seated Brāhmaṇas while they eat, the donor—through negligence—loses the corresponding merit of that act.