Shloka 12

अलोभोपाख्यानम् — शुनःसख-यातुधानी-संवादः

The Allegory of Non-Greed: Śunaḥsakha and the Yātudhānī

Devanagari script

निवप्ते चाग्निपूर्व वै निवापे पुरुषर्षभ । न ब्रह्ाराक्षसास्तं वै निवापं धर्षयन्त्युत,पुरुषप्रवर! अग्निमें हवन करनेके बाद जो पितरोंके निमित्त पिण्डदान दिया जाता है, उसे ब्रह्मराक्षस दूषित नहीं करते

Transliteration

nivapte cāgnipūrva vai nivāpe puruṣarṣabha | na brahmarākṣasās taṁ vai nivāpaṁ dharṣayanty uta puruṣapravara ||

Translation

Bhīṣma said: “O bull among men, O foremost of persons: when the funerary offering (nivāpa) is made after first offering into the sacred fire, that offering dedicated to the Pitṛs is not violated or defiled by brahmarākṣasas. Thus, rites performed in the proper Vedic order—fire first, then the ancestral offering—remain protected and efficacious.”

Word by Word

निवप्तेhas been offered/scattered (as an offering)

चand

अग्निपूर्वेwhen preceded by fire (i.e., after the fire-offering)

वैindeed

निवापेin the piṇḍa-offering (to the Pitṛs)

पुरुषर्षभO bull among men

नnot

ब्रह्मराक्षसाःbrahma-rākṣasas (a class of malignant spirits)

तम्that

वैindeed

निवापम्the piṇḍa-offering

धर्षयन्तिthey violate/defile/assail

उतalso/indeed

पुरुषप्रवरO best of men

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhīṣma

brahmarākṣasa

Agni

Pitṛs

nivāpa (ancestral offering/piṇḍa)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Geographic Context

Sandhi Notes