Shloka 40
Rudra-Śiva: Names, Two Natures, and the Logic of Epithets (रुद्रनाम-बहुरूपत्व-प्रकरणम्)
अतिथिदव्रतता धर्मों धर्मस्त्रेताग्निधारणम् | इष्टी क्ष पशुबन्धां श्व विधिपूर्व समाचरेत्
atithidavr̥tatā dharmo dharmas tretāgnidhāraṇam | iṣṭīś ca paśubandhāṁś ca vidhpūrvam samācaret ||
Mahādeva dit : «Pour lui, il est dharma d’être ferme dans les devoirs dus à l’hôte—accueillir et honorer l’atithi—et il est tout autant dharma d’entretenir les trois feux sacrés de la maison. Il doit aussi accomplir comme il se doit les divers rites sacrificiels (iṣṭi) et les rites prescrits d’offrande animale, selon la juste procédure».
श्रीमहेश्वर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Dharma for a householder includes ethical hospitality to guests and disciplined maintenance of sacred obligations—especially preserving the three household fires and performing prescribed Vedic rites correctly (vidhi-pūrvam).
Śrī Mahēśvara is instructing on normative dharma: he enumerates key duties—honoring guests, sustaining the three fires, and conducting sacrifices—presenting them as foundational practices of righteous living.