Shloka 14
तृष्णाक्षय-उपदेशः
Instruction on the Cessation of Craving
दाहे पुन: संश्रयणे संश्रिते पात्रभोजने । दाने गवां पशूनां वा पिण्डानामप्सु मज्जने,मृतकके दाह-संस्कारमें, पुनः: देह धारण करनेमें, देह धारण कर लेनेपर, मृत व्यक्तिकी तृप्तिके लिये प्रतिदिन तर्पण और श्राद्ध करनेमें, वैतरणीके निमित्त गौओं अथवा अन्य पशुओंका दान करनेमें तथा श्राद्धकर्ममें दिये हुए पिण्डोंका जलके भीतर विसर्जन करनेमें भी वैदिक मन्त्रोंका उपयोग होता है--इन सब कार्योंके मूल वेद-मन्त्र हैं
dāhe punaḥ saṁśrayaṇe saṁśrite pātrabhōjane | dāne gavāṁ paśūnāṁ vā piṇḍānām apsu majjane ||
Kapila said: “In the funeral burning, in the subsequent rites of taking refuge (i.e., the post-death observances), in feeding those who are to be fed on behalf of the departed, in gifting cows or other animals, and in immersing the funeral rice-balls (piṇḍas) in water—Vedic mantras are employed. Thus, these acts are rooted in the Vedic mantras.”
कपिल उवाच
Educational Q&A
That key post-death rites—cremation, śrāddha-related feeding, ritual donations (especially cows), and immersion of piṇḍas—are traditionally performed with Vedic mantras, indicating these practices are grounded in Vedic authority.
In the Śānti Parva’s Kapila discourse, Kapila enumerates common funerary and ancestral rites and emphasizes that mantras from the Veda are used in them, reinforcing the Veda as the ritual foundation for these observances.