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.
ユディシュティラは問うた。「バーラタ族の最勝者よ。古のバラモンたちは、布施と招請において最上の受者（パートラ）を誰と説くのですか。杖と水瓶など、苦行の規律を示す標（しるし）を帯びた梵行者のバラモンか、それともそのような外相を持たぬ家住のバラモンか。さらに、善人に敬われる徳あるバラモンの名を、たとえ遠方に聞き及ぶとしても、そこから招き寄せ、あらゆる方法で供養し、厚くもてなすべきだと申されます。」
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.