Shloka 20

Śrāddha-Kalpa: Pitṛ-Pūjā and Tithi-Phala (श्राद्धकल्पः पितृपूजा च तिथिफलम्)

Devanagari script

शास्त्रप्रामाण्यसूक्ष्मं तु विधिं पिण्डस्य संस्मरन्‌ | ततो दर्भेषु तत्‌ सर्वमदर्द भरतर्षभ

Transliteration

śāstraprāmāṇyasūkṣmaṃ tu vidhiṃ piṇḍasya saṃsmaran | tato darbheṣu tat sarvam adarda bharatarṣabha ||

Translation

Bhīṣma dijo: «Teniendo presente la sutil norma, autorizada por la escritura, para ofrecer el piṇḍa, no cedí ante lo que se mostraba directamente ante mí. Tomando al śāstra como única autoridad decisiva, oh toro entre los Bharata, ofrecí todos los piṇḍa sobre la hierba darbha conforme al rito prescrito».

Word by Word

• {'śāstra': 'scriptural injunction

• authoritative sacred teaching', 'prāmāṇya': 'validity as a means of knowledge

• authoritative force', 'sūkṣma': 'subtle

• requiring careful attention', 'vidhi': 'rule

• ritual injunction', 'piṇḍa': 'rice-ball offering in funerary/ancestral rites

• piṇḍadāna', 'saṃsmaran': 'remembering

• calling to mind', 'tataḥ': 'thereupon

• then', 'darbha': 'sacrificial grass (Desmostachya bipinnata) used in rites', 'darbheṣu': 'on/among the darbha grasses', 'tat sarvam': 'all that

• the whole of it', 'adarda': 'I gave/placed/offered (context: made the offering/handed over in the rite)', 'bharatarṣabha': 'O bull among the Bharatas (honorific address, typically to Yudhiṣṭhira)'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• Bharatarṣabha (address to Yudhiṣṭhira)
• śāstra
• piṇḍa (funerary offering)
• darbha (sacrificial grass)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

That in matters of dharma and ritual duty, one should follow the śāstra’s precise injunctions (śāstra-prāmāṇya) rather than being swayed by immediate appearances or personal impulses; correctness of rite is treated as an ethical discipline.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhishma recounts performing piṇḍa offerings according to the subtle scriptural procedure: he places the offerings on darbha grass, emphasizing that he acted by scriptural rule as the final authority.