Shloka 26
नारद–असित (देवल) संवादः — भूतप्रभवाप्यय, इन्द्रिय-गुण-विवेक, क्षेत्रज्ञ-तत्त्व
ऋचो यजूंषि सामानि यजमानश्न षोडश । अग्निज्ञेयो गृहपति: स सप्तदश उच्यते
ṛco yajūṃṣi sāmāni yajamānaś ca ṣoḍaśa | agnijñeyo gṛhapatiḥ sa saptadaśa ucyate ||
Kapila explains: the Ṛg, Yajus, and Sāman hymns, together with the yajamāna (the sacrificer), make up the full set of sixteen sacrificial constituents; and the household fire—the gārhapatya, known as the gṛhapati—is taught as the seventeenth. Thus, seventeen limbs are declared.
कपिल उवाच
Educational Q&A
That sacrifice (yajña) is an integrated system: Vedic utterance (Ṛg, Yajus, Sāman) must be joined with the responsible agent (yajamāna), and sustained by the household sacred fire (gārhapatya/gṛhapati). Dharma in ritual depends on completeness—right elements, right roles, and continuity of the sacred fire.
Kapila is instructing about the constituents (aṅgas) of yajña, enumerating them as sixteen when counting the three Vedic streams of mantra plus the sacrificer, and adding the gārhapatya (household) fire as the seventeenth, emphasizing its foundational status in Vedic practice.