Shloka 163
अश्वमेधावसानम् — Dakṣiṇā-vibhāga and Avabhṛtha
Completion of the Aśvamedha
एष धर्मो महान् शक्र महागुणफलोदय: । “सहस्र नेत्रधारी इन्द्र! आप तीन वर्षके पुराने बीजों (जौ, गेहूँ आदि अनाजों)-से यज्ञ करें। यही महान् धर्म है और महान् गुणकारक फलकी प्राप्ति करानेवाला है”
vaiśampāyana uvāca | eṣa dharmo mahān śakra mahāguṇaphalodayaḥ | sahasranetradhārī indra! āpa tīna varṣake purāne bījoṃ (jau, gehūṃ ādi anājoṃ)-se yajña kareṃ | yahī mahān dharma hai aura mahān guṇakāraka phalakī prāpti karānevālā hai |
قال فايشَمبايانا: «يا شَكرا (إندرا)، هذا دharma عظيم، يُنبت علوَّ الفضائل العظيمة وثمارها. يا إندرا ذا الألف عين، أقم القربان بحبوبٍ وبذورٍ مضى عليها ثلاث سنين (كالشعير والقمح). فهذا هو الدharma العظيم، القادر على منح الثمار المولودة من فضلٍ عظيم».
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that a properly conducted sacrifice, even down to the prescribed purity and suitability of its materials (here, aged grain-seeds), is a form of great dharma that generates substantial virtue and corresponding spiritual results (phala).
Vaiśampāyana, as narrator, reports an instruction addressed to Indra (Śakra, the thousand‑eyed). The instruction identifies a specific sacrificial practice—using three‑year‑old grain-seeds—as an exemplary dharmic act that yields great merit.