Shloka 26
द्रोणेन दुर्योधनस्य कवचबन्धनम् — Drona’s Mantra-Bound Armor for Duryodhana
स्वधां रजततपात्रेषु दुदुहु:ः पितरश्व॒ ताम् । वत्सो वैवस्वतस्तेषां यमो दोग्धान्तकस्तदा,पितरोंने पृथ्वीसे चाँदीके पात्रमें स््वधारूपी दूधका दोहन किया। उस समय उनकी ओरसे वैवस्वत यम बछड़ा और अन्तक दुहनेवाले थे
svadhāṃ rajata-tapātreṣu duduḥ pitaraś ca tām | vatso vaivasvatas teṣāṃ yamo dogdhāntakas tadā ||
Nārada said: The Pitṛs milked out the oblation called svadhā into silver vessels. For them at that time, Vaivasvata Yama served as the calf, and Antaka acted as the milker—an image that sets death and ancestral duty within a regulated, dharmic cosmic order rather than mere terror.
नारद उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses a ritual metaphor to show that even death (Yama/Antaka) functions within dharma: ancestral offerings (svadhā) are part of a lawful cosmic economy where fearsome powers are integrated into sacred duty and order.
Nārada describes the Pitṛs performing a symbolic ‘milking’ of svadhā into silver vessels, with Yama as the calf and Antaka as the milker—an imagistic account of how ritual essence is drawn forth under the governance of death-related deities.