Shloka 23
Adhyaya 30 — Madālasā’s Instruction on Household Duties and Naimittika–Śrāddha Rites
तदभावे च नृपतिः कारयेत् स्वकुटुम्बिना ।
तज्जातीयैर्नरैः सम्यग् दाहाद्याः सकलाः क्रियाः ॥
tadabhāve ca nṛpatiḥ kārayet svakuṭumbinā | tajjātīyair naraiḥ samyag dāhādyāḥ sakalāḥ kriyāḥ ||
And if those proper relatives or performers are not available, the king should have all the rites—beginning with cremation—duly carried out by his own household (servants and retainers), or by men of the same jāti (community).
{ "primaryRasa": "dharma", "secondaryRasa": "shanta", "rasaIntensity": 0, "emotionalArcPosition": "", "moodDescriptors": [] }
FAQs
Ritual duty is not to be abandoned due to logistical failure: if the ideal performer is unavailable, society (here, the king as guardian) must ensure the deceased receives proper rites through suitable substitutes, preserving dignity and dharma.
This passage is primarily Dharma/ācāra instruction rather than the core pañcalakṣaṇa topics; it aligns loosely with 'vaṃśānucarita' only insofar as it regulates ancestral rites, but is best tagged as ancillary dharma material within the Purāṇa.
The ‘king’ symbolizes the sustaining order (dharma as social sovereignty): when personal lineage support fails, the larger body politic must uphold the transitional rites that stabilize the living and the departed.