Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 27

ब्रह्मस्वहरण-निषेधः — Prohibition of Appropriating Brahmin Property

Brahmasva

Devanagari script

दत्त्वा शरीर क्रव्याद्धयो रणाग्नौ द्विजहेतुकम्‌ । हुत्वा प्राणान्‌ प्रमोक्षस्ते नान्‍्यथा मोक्षमर्हसि

Transliteration

dattvā śarīra-kravyādbhyo raṇāgnau dvija-hetukam | hutvā prāṇān pramokṣas te nānyathā mokṣam arhasi ||

Translation

ခတ္တရိယက ပြောသည်— «ဗြာဟ္မဏကို ကာကွယ်ရန်အတွက် စစ်ပွဲ၏ မီးတောက်ထဲသို့ မိမိကိုယ်ခန္ဓာကို ပူဇော်၍ အသားစားသတ္တဝါတို့အား ပေးအပ်လိုက်ပါက—အသက်ရှူသက်တမ်းကိုပါ စွန့်ပူဇော်ခြင်းဖြင့်—သင်သည် လွတ်မြောက်ခြင်းကို ရနိုင်သည်။ အခြားနည်းဖြင့် မောက္ခကို မထိုက်တန်»။

Word by Word

• दत्त्वा: having given
• Type: Verb
• Root: दा (ददाति)
• Form: क्त्वान्त अव्यय (gerund), कर्तरि

• शरीरम्: body
• शरीरम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: शरीर
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• क्रव्याद्भ्यः: to flesh-eaters (carnivorous beings)
• क्रव्याद्भ्यः: Sampradana
• Type: Noun
• Root: क्रव्याद
• Form: Masculine, Dative, Plural

• रणाग्नौ: in the fire of battle
• रणाग्नौ: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: रणाग्नि
• Form: Masculine, Locative, Singular

• द्विजहेतुकम्: for the sake/cause of a twice-born (brahmin)
• Type: Adjective
• Root: द्विजहेतुक
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• हुत्वा: having offered (as oblation)
• Type: Verb
• Root: हु (जुहोति)
• Form: क्त्वान्त अव्यय (gerund), कर्तरि

• प्राणान्: life-breaths; life
• प्राणान्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: प्राण
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Plural

• प्रमोक्षः: release; liberation
• Type: Noun
• Root: प्रमोक्ष
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• ते: of you; your
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: युष्मद्
• Form: Second, Genitive, Singular

• न: not
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: न

• अन्यथा: otherwise
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: अन्यथा

• मोक्षम्: liberation
• मोक्षम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: मोक्ष
• Form: Masculine, Accusative, Singular

• अर्हसि: you deserve/are fit (to obtain)
• Type: Verb
• Root: अर्ह्
• Form: Present (लट्), Second, Singular, Parasmaipada

Speaker

राजन्य उवाच

Characters & Entities

• राजन्य (a Kshatriya speaker)
• द्विज (Brahmin, as the protected party)
• रणाग्नि (battle as a sacrificial fire, metaphor)
• क्रव्याद (flesh-eating creatures)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Liberation is linked here to uncompromising dharma: a Kshatriya’s highest ethical act is self-sacrifice in battle undertaken specifically to protect a Brahmin (dvija). The verse frames such death as a yajña-like offering, implying that motive (dvija-hetu) and duty-bound sacrifice are decisive for moksha.

What is happening in the narrative?

A Kshatriya speaker addresses another person, urging that true release requires offering one’s body and life in the ‘fire of battle’ for the protection of a Brahmin. The imagery treats the battlefield as a sacrificial altar and death as an oblation, while denying liberation through any lesser course.