Shloka 8
Sāma (Sāntva) and Dāna: The Brāhmaṇa’s Conciliatory Release from a Rākṣasa
अस्मिंस्तृप्ते च नृप्पन्ते पितरो दैवतानि च । न हि श्रुतवतां किंचिदधिकं ब्राह्मणादृते
asmiṁs tṛpte ca nṛpānte pitaro daivatāni ca | na hi śrutavatāṁ kiñcid adhikaṁ brāhmaṇād ṛte ||
Maitreya dit : «Quand, dans la demeure d’un roi, un brahmane est satisfait, les dieux et les ancêtres (Pitṛs) le sont aussi. Car pour ceux qui connaissent la tradition sacrée, rien n’est plus digne d’honneur qu’un brahmane.»
मैत्रेय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Honoring and satisfying a worthy Brahmin—especially through proper hospitality and gifts—is presented as a dharmic act whose merit extends beyond the immediate recipient, reaching both the gods and the ancestors; thus, for the learned, the Brahmin is a foremost object of reverence.
Maitreya is instructing within the Anuśāsana Parva’s ethical-discursive setting, emphasizing to the royal listener(s) that the king’s support of Brahmins is not merely social courtesy but a religiously efficacious act connected to deva- and pitṛ-satisfaction.