Shloka 84
यक्षने पूछा--पुरुष किस प्रकार मरा हुआ कहा जाता है? राष्ट्र किस प्रकार मर जाता है? श्राद्ध किस प्रकार मृत हो जाता है? और यज्ञ कैसे नष्ट हो जाता है? ।। युधिछिर उवाच मृतो दरिद्र: पुरुषो मृतं राष्ट्रमराजकम् मृतमश्रोत्रियं श्राद्ध मृतो यज्ञस्त्वदक्षिण:
yudhiṣṭhira uvāca |
mṛto daridraḥ puruṣo mṛtaṃ rāṣṭram arājakam |
mṛtam aśrotriyaṃ śrāddhaṃ mṛto yajñas tv adakṣiṇaḥ ||
Dijo Yudhiṣṭhira: «Se dice que un hombre está “muerto” cuando ha sido reducido a la miseria. Un reino está “muerto” cuando carece de rey. Un śrāddha está “muerto” cuando se ofrece a quien no es un verdadero śrotriya (un receptor debidamente instruido y cualificado). Y un sacrificio está “muerto” cuando se realiza sin la debida dakṣiṇā, la retribución sacrificial.»
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse defines ‘death’ in functional-ethical terms: poverty can make a person socially powerless; a kingdom without rightful leadership collapses; rites become fruitless when performed without proper qualification (worthy recipient) or without completing obligations (dakṣiṇā). Dharma is shown as what sustains life, polity, and ritual efficacy.
In the Yakṣa–Yudhiṣṭhira dialogue at the lake, the Yakṣa tests Yudhiṣṭhira with pointed questions. Here Yudhiṣṭhira answers what counts as ‘dead’ for a person, a kingdom, a śrāddha, and a yajña—demonstrating practical wisdom about social order and ritual propriety.