Shloka 31

मांसपरिवर्जन-प्रशंसा (Praise of Abstention from Meat) / Ethics of Ahiṃsā in Diet and Rite

Devanagari script

एतत्‌ ते सर्वमाख्यातमन्नदानफलं महत्‌ । मूलमेतत्‌ तु धर्माणां प्रदानानां च भारत,भारत! अन्न-दान सब प्रकारके धर्मों और दानोंका मूल है। इस प्रकार मैंने तुम्हें यह अन्नदानका सारा महान्‌ फल बताया है

Transliteration

etad te sarvam ākhyātam annadāna-phalaṁ mahat | mūlam etat tu dharmāṇāṁ pradānānāṁ ca bhārata ||

Translation

एतत्ते सर्वमाख्यातमन्नदानफलं महत्। मूलमेतत्तु धर्माणां प्रदानानां च भारत॥

Word by Word

{'etat''this', 'te': 'to you', 'sarvam': 'all, entirely', 'ākhyātam': 'has been explained/told', 'anna': 'food, grain', 'dāna': 'gift, charitable giving', 'annadāna': 'the gift of food', 'phalam': 'fruit, result, merit', 'mahat': 'great, vast', 'mūlam': 'root, foundation, source', 'tu': 'indeed, but (emphatic/contrastive particle)', 'dharmāṇām': 'of dharmas

of righteous duties/virtues', 'pradānānām''of bestowals/gifts

of acts of giving', 'ca''and', 'bhārata': 'O Bhārata (descendant of Bharata

Speaker

युधिछ्िर उवाच

Characters & Entities

Yudhiṣṭhira

Bhārata (addressee/descendant of Bharata)

annadāna (food-gift)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Food-giving (annadāna) is presented as the foundational form of charity and a root-source of dharma, because sustaining life enables all other virtues, duties, and religious acts to be practiced.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Anuśāsana Parva’s instruction on gifts and duties, the speaker concludes a teaching by summarizing that the great merit of annadāna has been fully explained and by emphasizing its primacy among all forms of giving and righteous conduct.