Shloka 23
Adhyāya 166: Kṛtaghna-doṣa (कृतघ्नदोषः) — the fault of ingratitude and the limits of expiation
प्राजापत्यमदत्त्वाश्चमग्न्याधेयस्य दक्षिणाम् । अनाहिताग्निरिति स प्रोच्यते धर्मदर्शिभि:
prājāpatyam adattvāś ca agnyādheyasya dakṣiṇām | anāhitāgnir iti sa procyate dharmadarśibhiḥ ||
Bhīṣma said: One who begins the Agnyādhāna rite (the establishment of the sacred fires) but does not give the prescribed priestly fee dedicated to Prajāpati—namely the horse-form dakṣiṇā—is, according to those who truly discern dharma, to be called ‘anāhitāgni’ (one who has not properly established the fires).
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Ritual acts are incomplete without fulfilling their prescribed obligations—especially the proper dakṣiṇā. Merely lighting or commencing the sacred-fire rite does not confer the status of an ‘āhitāgni’ unless the rite is completed in accordance with dharma.
In Bhīṣma’s instruction on dharma in the Śānti Parva, he defines a normative standard: a person who starts Agnyādhāna but withholds the Prajāpati-related dakṣiṇā is judged by dharma-knowers as effectively ‘not having established the fires’ (anāhitāgni).