Shloka 71
Yamamārga, Antyeṣṭi-vidhi, and Daśāhika Piṇḍa-dāna
Road to Yama and Ten-Day Offerings
षट् सप्तमे कटी गुह्यमृरू चाप्यष्टमे तथा / तालू पादौ च नवमे दशमे ऽह्नि क्षुधा भवेत्
ṣaṭ saptame kaṭī guhyamṛrū cāpyaṣṭame tathā / tālū pādau ca navame daśame 'hni kṣudhā bhavet
On the seventh day, the hips, the secret parts, and the thighs are formed/affected; likewise on the eighth. On the ninth, the palate and the feet are formed/affected. On the tenth day, hunger arises.
Lord Vishnu (narrating to Garuda/Vinata-putra)
Afterlife Stage: Pretayoni
Ritual Type: Ekoddishta
Beneficiary: Pitr
Timing: Days 7–10 of the post-death period (daśāha sequence)
Concept: The jiva continues with a forming subtle body after death, experiencing embodied needs that are met through prescribed rites.
Vedantic Theme: Sukshma-sharira continuity and bhoga as karma-driven experience even after gross death.
Application: Observe the day-counted śrāddha sequence with timely offerings, recognizing the departed’s progressive capacity to receive.
Primary Rasa: karuna
Secondary Rasa: bhayanaka
Related Themes: Garuda Purana Pretakalpa: day-by-day preta-body formation and hunger leading to piṇḍa prescriptions (adjacent verses 2.15.72–75)
FAQs
This verse maps specific bodily faculties/regions to successive post-death days, indicating an ordered unfolding of the preta’s experience; it supports the ritual idea that timely rites and offerings address the preta’s emerging needs.
It portrays the departed as passing through sequential stages where particular bodily functions are felt/manifest, culminating here in the arising of hunger on the tenth day—an experiential marker in the preta’s transition.
It encourages mindful performance of śrāddha/offerings and compassionate remembrance of the departed, while reminding the living to cultivate dharma and restraint, since embodied craving (like hunger) is a recurring condition.