Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 107
Rudra-Śiva: Names, Two Natures, and the Logic of Epithets (रुद्रनाम-बहुरूपत्व-प्रकरणम्)
अन्निहोत्र, पितरोंका पूजन (श्राद्ध) और पंचमहा-यज्ञोंका अनुष्ठान यह उनका मुख्य धर्म कहा जाता है ।।
agnihotraṃ pitṝṇāṃ pūjanaṃ (śrāddhaṃ) ca pañcamahāyajñānām anuṣṭhānam—eṣa teṣāṃ mukhyo dharmaḥ kathyate. eṣa cakracaraiḥ devi devalokacarair dvijaiḥ ṛṣidharmaḥ sadā cīrṇo yo ’nyas tam api me śṛṇu, devi.
Maheshvara said: “The offering of the Agnihotra, the honoring of the ancestors through śrāddha, and the performance of the five great sacrifices—these are declared to be their principal duty. O Goddess, this rishi-dharma has always been practiced by those Brahmins who move in a wheel-like course and who dwell in the divine realms. Besides this, listen from me, O Devi, to another duty that belongs to the seers as well.”
श्रीमहेश्वर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse identifies a foundational dharma centered on daily and periodic sacred obligations: maintaining the fire-rite (Agnihotra), honoring ancestors through śrāddha, and performing the five great sacrifices. It frames these as the primary ethical-religious duties sustaining cosmic and social order, and then signals that an additional rishi-duty will be taught next.
Śrī Maheśvara is instructing Devī. He describes the long-established practice of certain Brahmins—portrayed as celestial-ranging and cyclical in movement—who have consistently observed rishi-dharma. He then transitions to introduce another aspect of the seers’ dharma to be explained subsequently.