Shloka 21

Atithi-prāpti and the Brāhmaṇa’s Deliberation on Triadic Dharma (अतिथिप्राप्तिः धर्मत्रयविचारश्च)

Devanagari script

शौचाचारसमायुक्तान्‌ जितक्रोधान्‌ जितेन्द्रियान्‌ । वेदानध्यापयामास महाभारतपञ्चमान्‌

Transliteration

śaucācārasamāyuktān jitakrodhān jitendriyān | vedān adhyāpayāmāsa mahābhāratapañcamān ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana said: He instructed them in the Vedas—treating the Mahābhārata as the fifth—after finding them endowed with purity and right conduct, having conquered anger, and having mastered their senses.

Word by Word

• शौचाचारसमायुक्तान्: endowed with purity and good conduct
• शौचाचारसमायुक्तान्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: शौचाचारसमायुक्त
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Plural

• जितक्रोधान्: having conquered anger
• जितक्रोधान्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: जितक्रोध
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Plural

• जितेन्द्रियान्: having conquered the senses; self-controlled
• जितेन्द्रियान्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: जितेन्द्रिय
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Plural

• वेदान्: the Vedas
• वेदान्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: वेद
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Plural

• अध्यापयामास: caused to study; taught
• अध्यापयामास: Karta
• Type: Verb
• Root: अध्यापय् (अधि + आपय्; causative of अधि + इ)
• Form: Perfect (Periphrastic Perfect), Third, Singular

• महाभारतपञ्चमान्: as the fifth—together with the Mahabharata (i.e., the Vedas with the Mahabharata as fifth)
• महाभारतपञ्चमान्: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: महाभारतपञ्चम
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Plural

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśampāyana
• Vedas
• Mahābhārata

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

True learning is grounded in character: purity (śauca), right conduct (ācāra), mastery over anger, and control of the senses qualify a student to receive sacred instruction. Knowledge is presented as inseparable from ethical discipline.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana reports that a teacher instructed worthy, self-controlled students in the Vedas, and also taught the Mahābhārata as an additional authoritative body of dharma-teaching—figuratively ‘the fifth’ alongside the Vedas.