Shloka 15
अलोभोपाख्यानम् — शुनःसख-यातुधानी-संवादः
The Allegory of Non-Greed: Śunaḥsakha and the Yātudhānī
सोमायेति च वक्तव्यं तथा पितृमतेति च | रजस्वला च या नारी व्यंगिता कर्णयोशक्ष या । निवापे नोपतिषेत संग्राह्मा नान्यवंशजा
somāyeti ca vaktavyaṃ tathā pitṛmate iti ca | rajasvalā ca yā nārī vyaṅgitā karṇayoḥ śakṣyā | nivāpe nopatiṣṭheta saṃgrāhyā nānyavaṃśajā ||
Bhīṣma said: “One should utter the prescribed formula ‘somāya’ and likewise ‘according to the ordinance for the Pitṛs’. A woman who is in her menstrual period, and one who is marked by deformity of the ears, should not be approached at the offering-rite; she is not to be accepted (for that ritual purpose), nor should a woman of another lineage be taken.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse lays down ritual prescriptions: specific formulae are to be recited for Soma and for the Pitṛs, and certain persons are deemed ineligible to be approached/accepted in the context of an ancestral offering rite, reflecting classical purity and eligibility norms within dharma-śāstra style instruction.
In Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma continues instructing Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma. Here he gives detailed guidance on ritual conduct connected with offerings (especially those oriented to the ancestors), including what should be spoken and who is considered fit or unfit for participation/association in that rite.