Sāma (Sāntva) and Dāna: The Brāhmaṇa’s Conciliatory Release from a Rākṣasa
अस्मिंस्तृप्ते च नृप्पन्ते पितरो दैवतानि च । न हि श्रुतवतां किंचिदधिकं ब्राह्मणादृते
asmiṁs tṛpte ca nṛpānte pitaro daivatāni ca | na hi śrutavatāṁ kiñcid adhikaṁ brāhmaṇād ṛte ||
ಮೈತ್ರೇಯನು ಹೇಳಿದನು—ರಾಜನ ಮನೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಬ್ರಾಹ್ಮಣನು ತೃಪ್ತನಾದರೆ ದೇವತೆಗಳೂ ಪಿತೃಗಳೂ ತೃಪ್ತರಾಗುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಶ್ರುತಿ ಪರಂಪರೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಪಾಂಡಿತ್ಯ ಹೊಂದಿದವರಿಗೆ ಬ್ರಾಹ್ಮಣನಿಗಿಂತ ಹೆಚ್ಚಾಗಿ ಪೂಜ್ಯವಾದುದು ಯಾವುದೂ ಇಲ್ಲ.
मैत्रेय उवाच
Honoring and satisfying a worthy Brahmin—especially through proper hospitality and gifts—is presented as a dharmic act whose merit extends beyond the immediate recipient, reaching both the gods and the ancestors; thus, for the learned, the Brahmin is a foremost object of reverence.
Maitreya is instructing within the Anuśāsana Parva’s ethical-discursive setting, emphasizing to the royal listener(s) that the king’s support of Brahmins is not merely social courtesy but a religiously efficacious act connected to deva- and pitṛ-satisfaction.