Shloka 88
भरद्वाज उवाच भरे5सुतान् भरेडशिष्यान् भरे देवान् भरे द्विजान् । भरे भार्या भरे द्वाजं भरद्वाजोडस्मि शोभने,भरद्वाजने कहा--कल्याणी! जो मेरे पुत्र और शिष्य नहीं हैं, उनका भी मैं पालन करता हूँ, तथा देवता, ब्राह्मण, अपनी धर्मपत्नी तथा द्वाज (वर्णसंकर) मनुष्योंका भी भरण-पोषण करता हूँ, इसलिये भरद्वाज नामसे प्रसिद्ध हूँ
bharadvāja uvāca | bhare sutān bhare śiṣyān bhare devān bhare dvijān | bhare bhāryāṃ bhare dvājān bharadvājo 'smi śobhane ||
Bharadvāja said: “I support my sons; I support my disciples; I support the gods (through due offerings); and I support the twice-born (through rightful giving). I support my wife, and I also support those called ‘dvāja’ (people of mixed social origin). Therefore, O fair one, I am known as Bharadvāja.”
भरद्वाज उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames dharma as active support: a righteous person sustains not only one’s own family and students but also the wider sacred and social order—gods through offerings, the twice-born through proper giving, and even socially marginal or mixed-origin people—showing inclusive responsibility rather than narrow self-interest.
Bharadvāja speaks to a woman addressed as “śobhane,” explaining why he is called Bharadvāja: he ‘bears’ (bhare) the burden of maintaining many—sons, disciples, gods, Brahmins, his wife, and others—using a wordplay/etymology to present his identity as grounded in sustained duty.