Shloka 21

Pātra-Lakṣaṇa and Niścita-Dharma

Marks of a Worthy Recipient and Stable Criteria of Dharma

Devanagari script

इति श्रीमहाभारते अनुशासनपर्वणि दानधर्मपर्वणि अष्टावक्रदिक्संवादे एकविंशो<5ध्याय:

Transliteration

iti śrīmahābhārate anuśāsanaparvaṇi dānadharmaparvaṇi aṣṭāvakradiksaṃvāde ekaviṃśo 'dhyāyaḥ

Translation

此为结语：在《圣摩诃婆罗多》之《教诫篇》（Anuśāsana Parva）“施舍之法”（Dāna-dharma）部分，阿ष्ट伐克罗与诸方（Dik）之对话第二十一章至此终了。

Word by Word

• इति: thus; so (end-quotation marker)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: इति

• श्रीमहाभारते: in the venerable Mahabharata
• श्रीमहाभारते: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: श्रीमहाभारत
• Form: Neuter, Locative, Singular

• अनुशासनपर्वणि: in the Anushasana Parva
• अनुशासनपर्वणि: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: अनुशासनपर्वन्
• Form: Neuter, Locative, Singular

• दानधर्मपर्वणि: in the section on the dharma of giving
• दानधर्मपर्वणि: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: दानधर्मपर्वन्
• Form: Neuter, Locative, Singular

• अष्टावक्रदिक्संवादे: in the dialogue of Ashtavakra and Dik (the quarters)
• अष्टावक्रदिक्संवादे: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: अष्टावक्रदिक्संवाद
• Form: Masculine, Locative, Singular

• एकविंशः: twenty-first
• Type: Adjective
• Root: एकविंश
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• अध्यायः: chapter
• अध्यायः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: अध्याय
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Śrī Mahābhārata
• Anuśāsana Parva
• Dāna-dharma (section)
• Aṣṭāvakra
• Dik

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

This line is a colophon rather than a doctrinal verse: it signals that the chapter’s instruction—situated in the dharma of giving—has concluded, emphasizing the Mahābhārata’s framing of charity as an ethical discipline taught through authoritative dialogue.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhīṣma’s discourse (as part of the Anuśāsana Parva) has reached the end of a chapter presented as the Aṣṭāvakra–Dik dialogue within the charity/dāna section; the text formally closes the chapter with this concluding formula.