Anushasana Parva Adhyaya 72 Shloka 25 - Mahabharata | Spanish | Vedapath

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Shloka 25

गवां लोकवर्णनं तथा गोप्रदानफलश्रुतिः

Description of the ‘World of Cows’ and the Stated Fruits of Cow-Gift

Devanagari script

भीष्म उवाच असदृवृत्ताय पापाय लुब्धायानृतवादिने । हव्यकव्यव्यपेताय न देया गौ: कथंचन

Transliteration

bhīṣma uvāca asadṛvṛttāya pāpāya lubdhāyānṛtavādine | havyakavyavyapetāya na deyā gauḥ kathaṃcana ||

Translation

Bhīṣma dijo: Jamás debe darse una vaca a quien tiene conducta impropia—pecador, codicioso y dado a la mentira—ni a quien carece de reverencia por las ofrendas sagradas (havis) y los ritos para los antepasados (kavya).

Word by Word

भीष्मःBhishma

उवाचsaid

असदृवृत्तायto one of improper conduct

पापायto a sinful person

लुब्धायto a greedy person

अनृतवादिनेto a speaker of falsehood

हव्यकव्यव्यपेतायto one excluded from havya and kavya (oblations to gods and ancestors)

नnot

देयाto be given / should be given

गौःa cow

कथंचनin any way / ever (at all)

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhīṣma

cow (gauḥ)

havya (divine oblations)

kavya (ancestral offerings)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Bhīṣma teaches that gifts—especially a cow, a high-merit gift—must be given with discernment: one should not donate to recipients who are immoral, greedy, untruthful, or disrespectful toward sacred and ancestral rites, because such giving undermines the ethical purpose of dāna.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Anuśāsana Parva’s instruction on dharma, Bhīṣma lays down a rule about proper recipients of gifts, warning that a cow should not be bestowed upon unworthy persons characterized by bad conduct, falsehood, greed, and neglect of ritual obligations.