Shloka 10

दानफलप्रकरणम् — उपानहदानं, तिलदानं, भूमिदानं, गोदानं, अन्नदानं च

Gifts and Their Stated Results: Footwear, Sesame, Land, Cows, and Food

Devanagari script

अपि पापसमाचारं ब्रह्म॒घ्नमपि चानृतम्‌ । सैव पाप॑ प्लावयति सैव पापात्‌ प्रमोचयेत्‌

Transliteration

api pāpasamācāraṁ brahma-ghnam api cānṛtam | saiva pāpaṁ plāvayati saiva pāpāt pramocayet ||

Translation

Bhīṣma nói: Dẫu một người sống trong tội lỗi, dẫu là kẻ sát hại Bà-la-môn, dẫu là kẻ nói dối—thì chính việc bố thí đất ấy cũng rửa sạch tội của hắn và có thể giải thoát hắn hoàn toàn khỏi tội. Truyền thống đã tuyên rằng: đất đem cho làm bố thí thanh tịnh hóa người cho, cho dù lỗi lầm trước đó nặng nề đến đâu.

Word by Word

• [{'term': 'api', 'definition': 'even

• even if'}, {'term': 'pāpa-samācāra', 'definition': 'one whose conduct is sinful

• sinful behavior'}, {'term': 'brahma-ghna', 'definition': 'slayer of a Brāhmaṇa

• perpetrator of brahmahatyā (a grave sin)'}, {'term': 'anṛta', 'definition': 'falsehood

• one who speaks untruth'}, {'term': 'saiva', 'definition': 'that very (thing) alone

• precisely that'}, {'term': 'pāpam', 'definition': 'sin

• demerit'}, {'term': 'plāvayati', 'definition': 'causes to float away

• cleanses'}, {'term': 'pāpāt', 'definition': 'from sin (ablative)'}, {'term': 'pramocayet', 'definition': 'would free

• deliver'}, {'term': 'bhū-dāna (implied by context)', 'definition': 'gift of land

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• land (bhū/pṛthvī) as a charitable gift
• Brāhmaṇa (as the victim in brahmahatyā)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Bhīṣma emphasizes the extraordinary purificatory power attributed to bhū-dāna (the gift of land): even grave sinners—such as a brahma-ghna (Brāhmaṇa-slayer) or habitual liar—are said to have their sins washed away and to be released from sin through this act of charity.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Anuśāsana Parva’s instruction on dharma, Bhīṣma continues advising Yudhiṣṭhira about the merits of various gifts. Here he highlights land-giving as a supreme form of dāna, presenting it as a means of moral purification and relief from heavy demerit.