Anushasana Parva Adhyaya 80 Shloka 5 - Mahabharata | Marathi | Vedapath

Vyasa

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Shloka 5

Go-mahātmyam: Pavitrāṇāṃ Pavitraṃ

Cows and Ghee as Supreme Purifiers

Devanagari script

असुर्या नाम ते लोका गां दत्त्वा तानू न गच्छति । पीतोदकां जग्धतृणां नष्टक्षीरां निरिन्द्रियाम्‌

Transliteration

bhīṣma uvāca | asuryā nāma te lokā gāṁ dattvā tānū na gacchati | pītodakāṁ jagdhatṛṇāṁ naṣṭakṣīrāṁ nirindriyām |

Translation

‘असुर्या’ नावाचे जे अंधकारमय लोक आहेत, योग्य रीतीने गोदान करणारा तेथे जात नाही. पण ज्याचे पाणी हिरावले गेले आहे, ज्याचा चारा संपवला आहे, ज्याचे दूध नष्ट झाले आहे आणि ज्याच्या इंद्रिया शिथिल झाल्या आहेत—अशी गाय दान केल्यास दाता ब्राह्मणाला व्यर्थ क्लेश देतो आणि स्वतःही घोर नरकात पडतो।

Word by Word

असुर्याःsunless (dark) [worlds]

नामby name / called

तेthose

लोकाःworlds

गाम्a cow

दत्त्वाhaving given

तान्them (those worlds)

नnot

गच्छतिgoes

पीतोदकाम्whose water has been drunk (i.e., drained of water)

जग्धतृणाम्whose grass has been eaten (i.e., with fodder consumed)

नष्टक्षीराम्whose milk is lost/ruined

निरिन्द्रियाम्devoid of senses/strength

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhīṣma

Asuryā lokāḥ (sunless/dark worlds)

Go (cow)

Brāhmaṇa (implied recipient in the ethical explanation)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Charity must be meaningful and non-harmful: donating an unfit, suffering cow is not true dāna but a burden that harms the recipient and brings negative karmic consequences to the giver.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhishma, instructing on dāna-dharma in the Anushasana Parva, contrasts proper cow-gifting (which protects one from dark afterlife realms) with the unethical act of giving a debilitated cow, which leads to suffering and hellish results.