Shloka 72
तदर्धेनापि दातव्या दरिद्रेणापि पार्थिव
tadardhenāpi dātavyā daridreṇāpi pārthiva | pṛthvīnātha! yadi śrotā daridro bhavet tadā tasmai’pi ardhadakṣiṇayā saha godānaṃ niyataṃ kartavyam | pratyekaṃ parvasamāptau vidvān puruṣaḥ suvarṇasahitaṃ pustakaṃ vācakāya samarpayet ||
Vaiśaṃpāyana berkata: “Wahai raja, wahai tuan empunya bumi! Bahkan orang miskin pun hendaklah memberi—walau hanya separuh daripada dakṣiṇā yang lazim. Jika pendengar itu miskin, tetaplah wajib dilakukan godāna, iaitu sedekah seekor lembu, beserta honorarium yang dikurangkan. Pada akhir setiap bahagian, seorang yang berilmu hendaklah menyerahkan kitab yang dibacakan kepada pembaca, bersama emas.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that charitable giving and honoring sacred recitation should not be abandoned due to poverty: one may give proportionately (even half), yet the act of dāna—especially godāna and dakṣiṇā—should be maintained, along with supporting the transmission of scripture by gifting the book and gold to the reciter.
Vaiśaṃpāyana instructs a king on proper conduct surrounding listening to and completing recitations of the Mahābhārata: the listener should provide dakṣiṇā and perform godāna according to capacity, and at each parva’s end a learned patron should honor the vācaka by presenting the manuscript/book with gold.