Shloka 11
अन्नदान-प्रशंसा (Praise of the Gift of Food) | Annadāna-Praśaṃsā
कृशाय कृतविद्याय वृत्तिक्षीणाय सीदते | अपहन्यात् क्षुधां यस्तु न तेन पुरुष: सम:
kṛśāya kṛtavidyāya vṛttikṣīṇāya sīdate | apahanyāt kṣudhāṃ yas tu na tena puruṣaḥ samaḥ ||
Bhīṣma disse: “Quanto àquele que está emagrecido, embora instruído, cuja subsistência se reduziu e que afunda na aflição—quem lhe remove a fome não tem igual entre os virtuosos. O mérito mais alto está em sustentar o erudito e o abatido com alimento e amparo no tempo certo.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Feeding and sustaining a distressed person—especially one who is learned yet impoverished—is presented as an unsurpassed act of merit; removing hunger is among the highest forms of dharmic charity.
In Bhīṣma’s instruction on dharma (Anuśāsana Parva), he praises the ethical greatness of one who relieves hunger in a suffering, livelihood-deprived person, elevating practical compassion above other claims to virtue.