Shloka 8
आर्जुन–गन्धर्वसंवादः
Arjuna–Gandharva Dialogue on Honor, Night-Power, and Purohita-Nīti
ताते5पि हि गते स्वर्ग विनष्टे च ममानुजे । पिण्ड: पितृणां व्युच्छिद्येत् तत् तेषां विप्रियं भवेत्,'पिता स्वर्गवासी हो जायेँ और मेरा भैया भी नष्ट हो जाय, तो पितरोंका पिण्ड ही लुप्त हो जायगा, जो उनके लिये बहुत ही अप्रिय होगा
tāte 'pi hi gate svargaṁ vinaṣṭe ca mamānuje | piṇḍaḥ pitṝṇāṁ vyucchidyeta tat teṣāṁ vipriyaṁ bhavet ||
Vaiśampāyana sprach: „Wenn mein Vater in den Himmel eingeht und auch mein jüngerer Bruder zugrunde geht, dann würde die Ahnenopfergabe (piṇḍa) für die Pitṛs abgeschnitten. Das wäre ihnen zutiefst unerquicklich.“
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores Pitṛ-dharma: maintaining lineage and performing ancestral offerings is a moral obligation. The interruption of piṇḍa/śrāddha is portrayed as a serious harm, not merely social but religious-ethical, because it deprives the Pitṛs of due rites.
A speaker expresses anxiety that if the father dies and the younger brother is lost, the family’s ancestral rites will cease. The statement frames the stakes of survival and succession in terms of responsibility toward the ancestors.