Shloka 28
मांसपरिवर्जन-प्रशंसा (Praise of Abstention from Meat) / Ethics of Ahiṃsā in Diet and Rite
भोजयित्वा दशशतं नरो वेदविदां नृप । न्यायविद्धर्मविदुषामितिहासविदां तथा
yudhiṣṭhira uvāca | bhojayitvā daśaśataṁ naro vedavidāṁ nṛpa | nyāyavid dharmaviduṣām itihāsavidāṁ tathā |
Yudhiṣṭhira dit : « Ô roi, l’homme qui nourrit mille brāhmanes—savants du Veda, experts en nyāya (raisonnement et justice), versés dans le dharma et instruits des récits sacrés et de la tradition—ne tombe pas dans l’effroyable enfer et ne se retrouve pas de nouveau enchaîné au cycle des errances du monde. En cette vie même, ses desseins s’accomplissent, et après la mort il jouit du bonheur dans l’au-delà. »
युधिछ्िर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches the exceptional merit of anna-dāna (feeding others), especially when offered to learned and ethically grounded recipients. Such generosity is presented as a dharmic act that yields both worldly fulfillment and favorable post-mortem destiny, protecting one from hellish consequences and continued entanglement in saṁsāra.
Yudhiṣṭhira addresses a king and states a dharma-teaching: feeding a thousand Brahmins who are learned in Veda, nyāya, dharma, and itihāsa brings powerful spiritual and ethical results—success in this life and happiness after death.