Adhyaya 117

Chapter 117 opens with a luxuriant portrayal of the hermitage and its dwellings, then turns to Rāma’s request that Śiva relate the sacred teaching on proper worship and the karmic results of impure offerings. Through exempla (Ākatha and Suśobhanā; later Rūpaka/Sampāti; and other accounts of gaṇa-origins), it insists that pūjā must be performed with righteously acquired, undefiled materials. A major set-piece depicts Rāma conducting Kauśalyā’s monthly śrāddha: an aged, demanding guest arrives, disrupts the rite, and presses hospitality to its limits, until he is revealed as Śiva himself in brāhmaṇa disguise. Pārvatī manifests inexhaustible food, confirming divine satisfaction. The chapter ends with merit-statements praising the hearing and recitation of the Śiva–Rāghava dialogue and the giving of gifts to the Purāṇa-reciter.