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

“Ta đã nói đầy đủ cho ngươi về quả báo lớn lao của việc bố thí thực phẩm. Hỡi Bhārata, chính đây là cội rễ của mọi hình thái Dharma và mọi loại bố thí: bố thí thức ăn là nền tảng của đời sống chính hạnh và lòng quảng đại.”

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)

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.