Shloka 10
इक्ष्वाकुवंश-प्रसङ्गः, पुरंजय-दैवसाहाय्य-कथा, युवनाश्व-मांधातृ-उत्पत्तिः, सौभरि-वैराग्योपदेशः
स चेक्ष्वाकुर् अष्टकायाम् उत्पाद्य श्राद्धार्हं मांसम् आनयेति विकुक्षिम् आज्ञापयाम् आस । स तथेति गृहीताज्ञो वनम् अभ्येत्यानेकान् मृगान् हत्वातिश्रान्तो ऽतिक्षुत्परीतो विकुक्षिर् एकं शशम् अभक्षयत् । शेषं च मांसम् आनीय पित्रे निवेदयाम् आस ॥
sa cekṣvākur aṣṭakāyām utpādya śrāddhārhaṃ māṃsam ānayeti vikukṣim ājñāpayām āsa | sa tatheti gṛhītājño vanam abhyetyānekān mṛgān hatvātiśrānto 'tikṣutparīto vikukṣir ekaṃ śaśam abhakṣayat | śeṣaṃ ca māṃsam ānīya pitre nivedayām āsa ||
When Aṣṭakā was to be honored, Ikṣvāku commanded Vikukṣi: “Bring meat fit to be offered in the śrāddha.” Accepting his father’s order, Vikukṣi went into the forest and, after killing many deer, became utterly exhausted and tormented by hunger. Overcome by that craving, he ate one hare himself; then he brought back the remaining meat and presented it to his father.
Sage Parāśara (narrating) to Maitreya
Concept: Ritual duty (śrāddha) is compromised when the offering is touched by personal consumption driven by craving.
Vedantic Theme: Dharma
Application: Keep clear boundaries between personal gratification and duties performed for ancestors/others; practice restraint when entrusted with sacred tasks.
Vishishtadvaita: Dharma is treated as a real, God-ordered mode of life within the world that supports devotion and social order.
Vamsha: Surya
Key Kings: Ikshvaku, Vikukshi, Ashtaka
FAQs
It frames the event as an ancestral rite where offerings must be ritually fit; Vikukṣi’s act becomes a moral-ritual breach within a royal lineage narrative.
Through a concrete royal episode: even a prince entrusted with sacred duty can falter under bodily hunger, showing how dharma tests self-restraint and purity in action.
Though Vishnu is not named in the verse, the Purana’s dynasty history is told as part of Vishnu’s sovereign ordering of the world—where kingship, rites, and moral law operate under the Supreme’s cosmic governance.