Shloka 112
Pitṛ-śrāddha-haviḥ-phala-nirdeśa
Offerings for Ancestors and Their Stated Results
यानि दारुणि निर्यासास्ते मासा: पक्षसंज्ञिता: अहोरात्रा मुहूर्ताश्न पित्त ज्योतिश्न दारुणम्
yāni dāruṇi niryāsās te māsāḥ pakṣasaṃjñitāḥ | ahorātrā muhūrtāś ca pittaṃ jyotiṣ ca dāruṇam ||
Vasiṣṭha said: “The harsh exudations that flowed from the sacrificial fuel became the measures of time—months, the divisions called fortnights, days and nights, and even the muhūrtas. And the bile of Agni manifested as a fierce, blazing radiance.” In this account, the rite is portrayed as the source from which cosmic order and temporal rhythm arise, while the same sacrificial power can also appear as intense, potentially dangerous heat—suggesting that dharma sustains the world when rightly ordered, yet becomes formidable when its energies surge unchecked.
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse links sacrificial order (yajña) with the emergence of cosmic time-measures (months, fortnights, day-night, muhūrtas), implying that dharma expressed through rightly ordered ritual sustains the world’s structure; yet the same sacred energy can manifest as fierce heat (Agni’s pitta/jyotiḥ), reminding one to handle power with restraint and proper regulation.
Vasiṣṭha describes a mythic transformation: the sap/exudation arising from the sacrificial fuel becomes the divisions of time, while Agni’s inner ‘bile’ becomes an intense radiance. The scene presents the yajña as a generative event from which both orderly temporality and formidable fiery energy arise.