Shloka 3

छत्रोपानहदानफलप्रशंसा — Praise of the Merit of Donating Umbrella and Footwear

Devanagari script

बहुष्वपि निमित्तेषु पुण्यमाश्रित्य दीयते । एतद्‌ू विस्तरशो राजन्‌ श्रोतुमिच्छामि तत्त्वतः,बहुत-से निमित्त उपस्थित होनेपर पुण्यके उद्देश्यसे इन वस्तुओंके दानकी प्रथा देखी जाती है। अतः राजन! मैं इस विषयको विस्तारके साथ यथावत्‌ रूपसे सुनना चाहता हूँ

Transliteration

bahuṣv api nimitteṣu puṇyam āśritya dīyate | etad ū vistaraśo rājan śrotum icchāmi tattvataḥ |

Translation

പല നിമിത്തങ്ങളിലും പുണ്യത്തെ ആശ്രയിച്ച് ഈ ദാനം നൽകപ്പെടുന്നു. ഹേ രാജാവേ! ഇതിനെ തത്ത്വതഃ, വിശദമായി കേൾക്കാൻ ഞാൻ ആഗ്രഹിക്കുന്നു.

Word by Word

• {'bahuṣu': 'in many (situations/instances)', 'api': 'also

• even', 'nimitteṣu': 'in occasions, causes, prompting circumstances', 'puṇyam': 'merit

• auspicious spiritual credit', 'āśritya': 'having resorted to

• taking as the basis/aim', 'dīyate': 'is given

• is bestowed (passive of √dā, ‘to give’)', 'etat': 'this (matter/teaching)', 'ū': 'indeed

• emphatic particle (often metrical/intonational)', 'vistaraśaḥ': 'in detail

• expansively', 'rājan': 'O King (vocative)', 'śrotum': 'to hear (infinitive of √śru)', 'icchāmi': 'I desire

• I wish', 'tattvataḥ': 'in truth

Speaker

युधिछिर उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Yudhiṣṭhira
• King (rājan, addressee)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Meritorious giving (dāna) is not confined to a single ritual moment; it arises across many occasions (nimitta). The verse frames charity as an ethical practice oriented toward puṇya, and it emphasizes the need to understand the principles of giving accurately (tattvataḥ) and in detail (vistaraśaḥ).

What is happening in the narrative?

Yudhiṣṭhira addresses a kingly teacher (in this parva, typically Bhīṣma instructing him) and requests a detailed, truthful explanation of the various occasions and reasons for which people give gifts seeking merit.