Shloka 1
अहिंसयित्वा ब्रह्महत्याविधानम् / Brahmahatyā incurred without physical violence
युधिष्ठिरने पूछा--भरतश्रेष्ठ! प्राचीन ब्राह्मण किसको दानका श्रेष्ठ पात्र बताते हैं? दण्ड-कमण्डलु आदि चिह्न धारण करनेवाले ब्रह्मचारी ब्राह्मणको अथवा चिह्नरहित गृहस्थ ब्राह्मगको?
Yudhiṣṭhira uvāca: śrāddhakāle ca daive ca pitṛyeṣv api ca pitāmaha, icchāmy aha tvayākhyātaṃ vihitaṃ yat surarṣibhiḥ.
Yudhiṣṭhira demanda : «Ô le meilleur des Bhārata, qui les brāhmaṇas d’autrefois proclament-ils comme le plus excellent récipiendaire des dons et des invitations : le brāhmaṇa brahmacārin portant les marques de la discipline ascétique, telles que le bâton et le pot à eau, ou le brāhmaṇa maître de maison, dépourvu de tels signes extérieurs ? Et si l’on entend parler, fût-ce de loin, d’un brāhmaṇa vertueux, honoré par les gens de bien, il faut l’inviter de là même et le vénérer et l’accueillir de toutes les manières.»
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
External marks (staff, water-pot, ascetic signs) are not the sole measure of worthiness; the passage frames worthiness for dāna and śrāddha invitations as grounded in prescribed dharma and in recognized virtue. It also emphasizes actively seeking out and honoring truly virtuous Brāhmaṇas, even from afar, as an ethical duty of hospitality and reverence.
In the Anuśāsana Parva’s instruction on gifts and rites, Yudhiṣṭhira addresses Bhīṣma as ‘Grandfather’ and asks for authoritative guidance—what the seers have enjoined—about whom to invite and honor in śrāddha and divine rites, and who is the best ‘pātra’ (recipient) for gifts: a marked brahmacārin or an unmarked householder, with the broader point that the virtuous should be invited and honored with full respect.