Shloka 26

Āśrama-dharma: Duties of the Four Life-Stages (आश्रमधर्मः)

Devanagari script

सस्यानां सर्वबीजानामेषा सांवत्सरी भृति: । न च वैश्यस्य काम: स्यान्न रक्षेयं पशूनिति,दूसरेके अनाजकी फसलों तथा सब प्रकारके बीजोंकी रक्षा करनेपर वैश्यको उपजका सातवाँ भाग वेतनके रूपमें ग्रहण करना चाहिये। यह उसके लिये वार्षिक वेतन है। वैश्यके मनमें कभी यह संकल्प नहीं उठना चाहिये कि “मैं पशुओंका पालन नहीं करूँगा”

Transliteration

sasyānām sarvabījānām eṣā sāṁvatsarī bhṛtiḥ | na ca vaiśyasya kāmaḥ syān na rakṣeyaṁ paśūn iti ||

Translation

Bhishma said: “For guarding the crops and all kinds of seeds, this is the annual remuneration: the Vaiśya should take a seventh share of the produce as wages. And the Vaiśya should never entertain the desire, ‘I will not protect and tend the cattle.’”

Word by Word

• {'sasyānām': 'of crops, grain in the field', 'sarvabījānām': 'of all seeds (all kinds of seed-grain)', 'eṣā': 'this (remuneration arrangement)', 'sāṁvatsarī': 'yearly, annual', 'bhṛtiḥ': 'wages, maintenance, remuneration', 'vaiśyasya': 'of the Vaiśya (the agrarian/mercantile social order)', 'kāmaḥ': 'desire, inclination, intention', 'syāt': 'should be (optative

• ‘should arise/occur’)', 'na': 'not', 'rakṣeyam': 'I should protect/guard (optative

• resolve/intention)', 'paśūn': 'cattle, livestock'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma
• Vaiśya
• crops (sasya)
• seeds (bīja)
• cattle/livestock (paśu)