Shloka 146
Pitṛ-śrāddha-haviḥ-phala-nirdeśa
Offerings for Ancestors and Their Stated Results
एवमेतत् पुरा वृत्तं तस्य यज्ञे महात्मन: । देवश्रेष्टस्य लोकादौ वारुणीं बिशभ्रतस्तनुम्
evam etat purā vṛttaṃ tasya yajñe mahātmanaḥ | devaśreṣṭasya lokādau vāruṇīṃ bibhratas tanum ||
Vasiṣṭha sprach: „So geschah es wahrlich in uralter Zeit—beim Opfer jenes großgesinnten Wesens, des Vorzüglichsten unter den Göttern. Gleich zu Beginn der Welt trug er die Gestalt der Vāruṇī.“
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames an ancient precedent: divine beings may assume specific forms in connection with cosmic beginnings and sacrificial contexts, underscoring the Mahābhārata’s view that ritual and cosmology are ethically meaningful arenas where dharma is revealed through exemplary narratives.
Vasiṣṭha recounts an old event: during the sacrifice of a great-souled figure, the foremost of the gods—linked to the world’s beginning—assumed or bore the form called Vāruṇī, indicating a divine manifestation connected with Varuṇa and ritual proceedings.