Shloka 7

Devanagari script

न तस्याश्रन्ति पितरो यस्य विप्रा न भुज्जते

Transliteration

na tasyāśranti pitaro yasya viprā na bhujjate

Translation

Dijo Bhīṣma: «Los antepasados no hallan satisfacción en el caso de aquel hombre en cuya casa no se alimenta a los brāhmaṇas».

Word by Word

• न: not
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: न

• तस्य: of him/its
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: तद्
• Form: masculine/neuter, genitive, singular

• आश्रन्ति: rest/are satisfied
• Type: Verb
• Root: श्रम्
• Form: lat, present, parasmaipada, 3rd, plural

• पितरः: the ancestors (manes)
• पितरः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: पितृ
• Form: masculine, nominative, plural

• यस्य: of whom/whose
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: यद्
• Form: masculine/neuter, genitive, singular

• विप्राः: brahmins
• विप्राः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: विप्र
• Form: masculine, nominative, plural

• न: not
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: न

• भुज्जते: eats/is fed (partakes)
• Type: Verb
• Root: भुज्
• Form: lat, present, atmanepada, 3rd, singular

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• pitaras (ancestors)
• vipras (brāhmaṇas)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

A householder’s dharma includes honoring and feeding worthy brāhmaṇas/learned guests; failing to do so is said to deprive one’s ancestors of satisfaction, implying that generosity and hospitality sustain both social order and the unseen economy of merit connected with the pitaras.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on duties and ethical conduct. Here he emphasizes the importance of feeding brāhmaṇas as part of household responsibility and as a condition for ancestral contentment.