Shloka 1
प्रतिग्रहभेदः — The Distinction between Giving and Accepting
Vṛṣādarbhī–Saptarṣi Dialogue
(दाक्षिणात्य अधिक पाठका १ श्लोक मिलाकर कुल ५५ श्लोक हैं) ऑपन--माज बछ। अकाल एकनवतितमो<ध्याय: शोकातुर निमिका पुत्रके निमित्त पिण्डदान तथा श्राद्धके विषयमे निमिको महर्षि अत्रिका उपदेश
yudhiṣṭhira uvāca | kena saṅkalpitaṃ śrāddhaṃ kasmin kāle kim-ātmakam | bhṛgv-aṅgirasike kāle muninā katareṇa vā |
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “By whom was the śrāddha rite first conceived and instituted? In what time did it arise, and what is its essential nature? If its beginning lay in the age of Bhṛgu and Aṅgiras, which sage made it known? Tell me also which acts, which fruits and roots, and which kinds of grain are to be avoided in śrāddha.”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames śrāddha as a dharmic obligation grounded in tradition: Yudhiṣṭhira seeks authoritative origins, proper timing, essential nature, and purity-based exclusions, implying that ancestral rites must be performed with correct intention (saṅkalpa) and disciplined observance.
In Anuśāsana Parva’s instruction on dharma, Yudhiṣṭhira asks an elder authority (contextually Bhīṣma) to explain how śrāddha began, which sage promulgated it, what it essentially is, and what actions and foods are prohibited in its performance.