Shloka 10

दानफलप्रकरणम् — उपानहदानं, तिलदानं, भूमिदानं, गोदानं, अन्नदानं च

Gifts and Their Stated Results: Footwear, Sesame, Land, Cows, and Food

Devanagari script

अपि पापसमाचारं ब्रह्म॒घ्नमपि चानृतम्‌ । सैव पाप॑ प्लावयति सैव पापात्‌ प्रमोचयेत्‌

Transliteration

api pāpasamācāraṁ brahma-ghnam api cānṛtam | saiva pāpaṁ plāvayati saiva pāpāt pramocayet ||

Translation

Dijo Bhīṣma: Aunque un hombre sea de conducta pecaminosa, aunque sea matador de un brāhmaṇa, aunque profiera falsedades—con todo, ese mismo don de tierra lava su pecado y puede liberarlo por completo del pecado. La tradición declara que la tierra dada en caridad purifica al dador, por grave que haya sido su falta anterior.

Word by Word

• [{'term': 'api', 'definition': 'even

• even if'}, {'term': 'pāpa-samācāra', 'definition': 'one whose conduct is sinful

• sinful behavior'}, {'term': 'brahma-ghna', 'definition': 'slayer of a Brāhmaṇa

• perpetrator of brahmahatyā (a grave sin)'}, {'term': 'anṛta', 'definition': 'falsehood

• one who speaks untruth'}, {'term': 'saiva', 'definition': 'that very (thing) alone

• precisely that'}, {'term': 'pāpam', 'definition': 'sin

• demerit'}, {'term': 'plāvayati', 'definition': 'causes to float away

• cleanses'}, {'term': 'pāpāt', 'definition': 'from sin (ablative)'}, {'term': 'pramocayet', 'definition': 'would free

• deliver'}, {'term': 'bhū-dāna (implied by context)', 'definition': 'gift of land

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• land (bhū/pṛthvī) as a charitable gift
• Brāhmaṇa (as the victim in brahmahatyā)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Bhīṣma emphasizes the extraordinary purificatory power attributed to bhū-dāna (the gift of land): even grave sinners—such as a brahma-ghna (Brāhmaṇa-slayer) or habitual liar—are said to have their sins washed away and to be released from sin through this act of charity.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Anuśāsana Parva’s instruction on dharma, Bhīṣma continues advising Yudhiṣṭhira about the merits of various gifts. Here he highlights land-giving as a supreme form of dāna, presenting it as a means of moral purification and relief from heavy demerit.