Shloka 21

Pātra-Lakṣaṇa and Niścita-Dharma

Marks of a Worthy Recipient and Stable Criteria of Dharma

Devanagari script

इति श्रीमहाभारते अनुशासनपर्वणि दानधर्मपर्वणि अष्टावक्रदिक्संवादे एकविंशो<5ध्याय:

Transliteration

iti śrīmahābhārate anuśāsanaparvaṇi dānadharmaparvaṇi aṣṭāvakradiksaṃvāde ekaviṃśo 'dhyāyaḥ

Translation

ここに結語。尊き『シュリー・マハーバーラタ』の『アヌシャーサナ・パルヴァ』中「布施の法（ダーナ・ダルマ）」における、アシュターヴァクラと諸方位（ディク）との対話、第二十一章は終わる。

Word by Word

• इति: thus; so (end-quotation marker)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: इति

• श्रीमहाभारते: in the venerable Mahabharata
• श्रीमहाभारते: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: श्रीमहाभारत
• Form: Neuter, Locative, Singular

• अनुशासनपर्वणि: in the Anushasana Parva
• अनुशासनपर्वणि: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: अनुशासनपर्वन्
• Form: Neuter, Locative, Singular

• दानधर्मपर्वणि: in the section on the dharma of giving
• दानधर्मपर्वणि: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: दानधर्मपर्वन्
• Form: Neuter, Locative, Singular

• अष्टावक्रदिक्संवादे: in the dialogue of Ashtavakra and Dik (the quarters)
• अष्टावक्रदिक्संवादे: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: अष्टावक्रदिक्संवाद
• Form: Masculine, Locative, Singular

• एकविंशः: twenty-first
• Type: Adjective
• Root: एकविंश
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• अध्यायः: chapter
• अध्यायः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: अध्याय
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Śrī Mahābhārata
• Anuśāsana Parva
• Dāna-dharma (section)
• Aṣṭāvakra
• Dik

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

This line is a colophon rather than a doctrinal verse: it signals that the chapter’s instruction—situated in the dharma of giving—has concluded, emphasizing the Mahābhārata’s framing of charity as an ethical discipline taught through authoritative dialogue.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhīṣma’s discourse (as part of the Anuśāsana Parva) has reached the end of a chapter presented as the Aṣṭāvakra–Dik dialogue within the charity/dāna section; the text formally closes the chapter with this concluding formula.