Shloka 42
तीर्थवंशोपदेशः
Tīrtha-vaṃśa Upadeśa: Instruction on the Fruits of Sacred Waters
नान्यत्र ब्राह्मणोश्रीयात् पूर्व विप्रेण केतित: । यवीयान् पशुहिंसायां तुल्यधर्मो भवेत् स हि
nānyatra brāhmaṇośrīyāt pūrvaṁ vipreṇa ketitaḥ | yavīyān paśuhiṁsāyāṁ tulyadharmo bhavet sa hi ||
قال بهيشما: «إذا كان برهميٌّ قد دُعي سلفًا من برهميٍّ آخر إلى طعام الشِّرادها (śrāddha)، فلا ينبغي للمدعوّ أن يذهب ليأكل في موضعٍ آخر. فإن فعل عُدَّ ناقصَ المنزلة، وكانت الزلّة التي يتحمّلها في ثقلها كإثم ذبح الحيوان.»
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
One must honor a prior śrāddha invitation; breaking it by eating elsewhere is a serious breach of dharma, treated as morally weighty—likened to the sin of animal-slaughter—because it violates trust and disrupts sacred hospitality.
In Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma instructs on righteous conduct and ritual-social duties. Here he lays down a rule for Brahmins regarding invitations for ritual feeding: once invited, the invitee should not accept food elsewhere, and doing so incurs grave fault.