"'Yudhishthira said, "O high-souled grandsire, thou hast duly discoursed to us on the subject of Sacrifices, including the merits in detail that attach to them both here and hereafter. It should be remembered, however, O grandsire, that Sacrifices are incapable of being performed, by people that are poor, for these require a large store of diverse kinds of articles. Indeed, O grandsire, the merit attaching to Sacrifices can be acquired by only kings and princes. That merit is incapable of being acquired by those that are destitute of wealth and divested of ability and that live alone and are helpless. Do thou tell us, O grandsire, what the ordinances are in respect of those acts that are fraught with merit equal to what attaches to sacrifices and which, therefore, are capable of being performed by persons destitute of means."[490]Mbh 13.107.1 · Mahabharata · ANUSASANA PARVA
Mbh 13.107.1
Mahabharata · translated by Kisari Mohan Ganguli
Themes in this passage
PovertyLeadershipLonelinessWealth
Poverty in other traditions
The same theme, as Christianity, Islam, Hellenism and Taoism address it.
He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy.Psalms 72:13 · Bible · Psalms
The alms are only for the poor and the needy, and those who collect them, and those whose hearts are to be reconciled, and to free the captives and the debtors, and for the cause of Allah, and (for) the wayfarer; a duty imposed by Allah. Allah is Knower, Wise.Quran 9:60 · Quran · Repentance
Immediately afterwards Ulysses came inside, looking like a poor miserable old beggar, leaning on his staff and with his clothes all in rags. He sat down upon the threshold of ash-wood just inside the doors leading from the outer to the inner court, and against a bearing-post of cypress-wood which the carpenter had skilfully planed, and had made to join truly with rule and line. Telemachus took a whole loaf from the bread-basket, with as much meat as he could hold in his two hands, and said to Eumaeus, “Take this to the stranger, and tell him to go the round of the suitors, and beg from them; a beggar must not be shamefaced.”Odyssey 17.33 · Odyssey · 17
They should think their (coarse) food sweet; their (plain) clothes beautiful; their (poor) dwellings places of rest; and their common (simple) ways sources of enjoyment.Tao Te Ching 80.4 · Tao Te Ching
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