Shloka 126
ज्येष्ठ-कनिष्ठ-धर्मः — Duties of Elders and Juniors
Anuśāsana-parva 108
नक्षत्रे न च कुर्वीत यस्मिन् जातो भवेन्नर: । न प्रोष्ठपदयो: कार्य तथाग्नेये च भारत,भारत! मस्तकपरसे स्नान करके देवकार्य तथा पितृकार्य करे। जिस नक्षत्रमें अपना जन्म हुआ हो उसमें एवं पूर्वा और उत्तरा दोनों भाद्रपदाओंमें तथा कृत्तिका नक्षत्रमें भी श्राद्धका निषेध है
nakṣatre na ca kurvīta yasmin jāto bhaven naraḥ | na proṣṭhapadayoḥ kārya tathāgneye ca bhārata bhārata |
Bhīṣma said: “A man should not perform the rite on the lunar mansion in which he himself was born. Nor should it be done on the two Proṣṭhapadā (Bhādrapadā) constellations, and likewise on the Agneya constellation (Kṛttikā), O Bhārata. The teaching frames ritual timing as part of dharma: even meritorious acts like ancestral offerings are to be done with due regard for prescribed auspicious and inauspicious stars.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Ritual merit depends not only on intention but also on correct observance; certain nakṣatras—one’s own birth-star, the two Proṣṭhapadās, and Kṛttikā—are prescribed as unsuitable times for performing such rites (especially ancestral offerings).
In the Anuśāsana Parva’s instruction section, Bhīṣma continues advising Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma, giving specific calendrical rules about when particular religious rites should or should not be performed.