Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 32, Shloka 34
Adhyaya 32 — Rules for Parvana Śrāddha: Foods that Please the Ancestors and Items to Avoid
वैश्वदेवञ्च सौम्यञ्च खड्गमांसं परं हविः । विषाणवर्ज्यखड्गाप्त्या आसूर्यञ्चाश्नुवामहे ॥
vaiśvadevañ ca saumyañ ca khaḍgamāṃsaṃ paraṃ haviḥ / viṣāṇavarjyakhaḍgāptyā āsūryañ cāśnuvāmahe
In the Vaiśvadeva and Saumya rites, rhinoceros-meat is declared the supreme oblation. By obtaining a rhinoceros without its horn, one attains merit enduring as long as the sun endures.
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FAQs
The verse uses ‘superlative reward’ language to stress fidelity to prescribed rites. It also hints at restraint (the ‘without horn’ phrase) as an ethical qualifier on acquisition, though the exact intent depends on traditional interpretation.
Not pancalakṣaṇa proper; it is ritual-dharma instruction embedded in the Purāṇa, functioning as practical guidance alongside genealogical/cosmological materials elsewhere.
‘Until the sun’ is a symbolic way of saying ‘cosmically enduring merit.’ The hornless condition can be read as a marker of non-violence/renunciation of exploitative gain, aligning ritual efficacy with ethical constraint.