Shloka 68
Dharma-vyādha’s Analysis of Moral Decline and the Mahābhūta–Guṇa Schema (धर्मव्याधोपदेशः)
स्वागतेनाग्नयस्तृप्ता आसनेन शतक्रतुः । पितर: पादशौचेन अन्नाद्येन प्रजापति:,ब्राह्मणका स्वागत करनेसे अग्नि, उसे आसन देनेसे इन्द्र, उसके पैर धोनेसे पितर और उसको भोजनके योग्य अन्न प्रदान करनेसे ब्रह्माजी तृप्त होते हैं
svāgatena agnayaḥ tṛptāḥ āsanena śatakratuḥ | pitaraḥ pādaśaucena annādyena prajāpatiḥ |
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “By welcoming a brāhmaṇa, the sacred fires are satisfied; by offering him a seat, Indra (Śatakratu) is satisfied; by washing his feet, the Pitṛs (ancestral spirits) are satisfied; and by providing him food fit to be eaten, Prajāpati (Brahmā) is satisfied.” The verse teaches that honoring a worthy guest—especially a brāhmaṇa—constitutes a chain of dharmic acts whose merit reaches the gods and ancestors, making hospitality a concrete form of religious and ethical duty.
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Hospitality to a worthy guest—especially a brāhmaṇa—is itself a dharmic sacrifice: welcoming pleases the sacred fires, offering a seat pleases Indra, washing the feet pleases the ancestors, and feeding pleases Prajāpati/Brahmā. Small acts of reverence are presented as spiritually consequential.
Yudhiṣṭhira is articulating norms of proper reception (satkāra) for a brāhmaṇa/guest, mapping each element of guest-honoring—welcome, seat, foot-washing, and food—to the satisfaction of major divine and ancestral recipients, thereby reinforcing atithi-dharma within the Vana Parva discourse.