Anushasana Parva Adhyaya 60 Shloka 14 - Mahabharata | Sanskrit | Vedapath

Vyasa

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Shloka 14

Adhyāya 60: Dāna vs. Yajña—Royal Giving, Protection, and Karmic Share

Devanagari script

“जो केवल साग खाकर रहनेका नियम लेता है वह गोधनसे सम्पन्न होता है। तृण खाकर रहनेवाले मनुष्योंको स्वर्गकी प्राप्ति होती है। तीनों कालमें स्नान करनेसे बहुतेरी स्त्रियोंकी प्राप्ति होती है और हवा पीकर रहनेसे मनुष्यको यज्ञका फल प्राप्त होता है ।।

Transliteration

vaiśampāyana uvāca | nityasnānī bhaved dakṣaḥ sandhye tu dve japan dvijaḥ | maruṃ sādhayato rājan nākapṛṣṭham anāśake ||

Translation

नित्यस्नायी भवेद् दक्षः सन्ध्ये तु द्वे जपन् द्विजः। मरुं साधयतो राजन् नाकपृष्ठमनाशके॥

Word by Word

नित्यस्नायीone who bathes daily

भवेत्would become / should be

दक्षःcapable, efficient

सन्ध्येat the two twilight times (morning and evening)

तुbut/indeed

द्वेtwo

जपन्reciting (muttering prayers)

द्विजःa twice-born (brahmin etc.)

मरुम्the desert (wilderness)

साधयतःof (one) practicing/undertaking

राजन्O king

नाकपृष्ठम्the surface of heaven (heavenly world)

अनाशकेin (the vow of) fasting / when not eating

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

rājan (the King, i.e., Janamejaya as listener)

nāka (heaven)

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?

The verse links specific disciplines—daily bathing, sandhyā-time japa, severe austerity, and fasting—to corresponding fruits (competence, spiritual merit, heaven, and sacrificial reward), emphasizing that self-restraint and regular practice are forms of dharma that generate puṇya.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana continues instructive discourse to the king-listener, listing observances and austerities along with their promised results, as part of Anuśāsana Parva’s broader teaching on dharma, vows, and religious conduct.