Shloka 61
दानफलप्रकरणम् — उपानहदानं, तिलदानं, भूमिदानं, गोदानं, अन्नदानं च
Gifts and Their Stated Results: Footwear, Sesame, Land, Cows, and Food
इस प्रकार श्रीमह्याभारत अनुशासनपर्वके अन्तर्गत दानधर्मपर्वमें एकसठवाँ अध्याय पूरा हुआ
mahīṃ sphītāṃ dadad rājan sarvakāma-guṇānvitām | rājādhirājo bhavati taddhi dānam anuttamam ||
Bhishma dit : «Ô roi, celui qui donne en aumône la terre—prospère et abondante, pourvue de toutes les qualités désirées—devient, dans une naissance ultérieure, un empereur parmi les rois. Car ce don est proclamé sans égal.»
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that the highest form of charity is the donation of a prosperous, well-endowed realm (land/earth). Such an act yields extraordinary karmic merit, leading the donor to attain imperial sovereignty in a future birth.
In the Anuśāsana Parva’s discourse on dāna-dharma, Bhīṣma instructs King Yudhiṣṭhira about the relative greatness of gifts. Here he concludes by praising ‘gift of the earth/land’ as unsurpassed, stating its exalted fruit.