Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 31, Shloka 10
Adhyaya 31 — Naimittika and Related Śrāddha Rites: Sapiṇḍīkaraṇa, Eligibility, Timing, and Procedure
यास्तु गात्राम्बुकणिकाः पतन्ति धरणीतले ।
ताभिराप्यायनं तेषां ये देवत्वं कुले गताः ॥
yās tu gātrāmbukaṇikāḥ patanti dharaṇītale / tābhir āpyāyanaṃ teṣāṃ ye devatvaṃ kule gatāḥ
But the tiny droplets of water from the body that fall upon the surface of the earth—by those, nourishment comes to those of the family who have gone to the state of the gods.
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FAQs
The text universalizes responsibility toward one’s lineage: even minute bodily remnants are imagined as participating in a network of obligation and benefit across planes of rebirth.
Again chiefly Dharma/Ācāra; it complements Purāṇic genealogical thinking (vaṃśa) by tying family continuity to ritual maintenance.
Droplets (bindu) function symbolically as ‘seed-units’ of vitality; the verse hints that subtle essences, not only formal offerings, sustain beings in higher lokas.