Shloka 4

दानफलप्रकरणम् — उपानहदानं, तिलदानं, भूमिदानं, गोदानं, अन्नदानं च

Gifts and Their Stated Results: Footwear, Sesame, Land, Cows, and Food

Devanagari script

यावद्‌ भूमेरायुरिह तावद्‌ भूमिद एधते । न भूमिदानादस्तीह परं किंचिद्‌ युधिष्ठिर,युधिष्ठिर! इस जगत्‌में जबतक पृथ्वीकी आयु है, तबतक भूमिदान करनेवाला मनुष्य समृद्धिशाली रहकर सुख भोगता है। अतः यहाँ भूमिदानसे बढ़कर दूसरा कोई दान नहीं है

Transliteration

yāvad bhūmer āyur iha tāvad bhūmida edhate | na bhūmidānād astīha paraṁ kiñcid yudhiṣṭhira ||

Translation

ビーシュマは言った。「ユディシュティラよ、この世に大地の寿命がある限り、その限り土地を施す者は栄える。この世において、土地の施与に勝る施しはない。」

Word by Word

यावत्as long as

भूमेःof the earth

आयुःlifespan, duration

इहhere (in this world)

तावत्so long, that long

भूमिदःgiver of land

एधतेprospers, thrives

नnot

भूमिदानात्than the gift of land

अस्तिthere is

इहhere

परम्greater, beyond

किम्what

चित्ever/any (particle)

युधिष्ठिरO Yudhiṣṭhira

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhīṣma

Yudhiṣṭhira

Bhūmi (Earth/land)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Bhīṣma teaches that gifting land is the highest form of charity because it sustains life and livelihood; its merit and the donor’s prosperity are said to endure as long as the earth itself endures.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Anuśāsana Parva’s instruction on dharma and gifts, Bhīṣma addresses King Yudhiṣṭhira and ranks forms of dāna, declaring bhūmidāna (gift of land) as unsurpassed.