Shloka 1146
Adhyāya 90: Babhruvāhana’s Reception and the Commencement of Yudhiṣṭhira’s Aśvamedha
सक्तुप्रस्थेन यज्ञोडयं सम्मितो नेति सर्वथा । ब्राह्मणशिरोमणियो! इसीसे मैंने हँ।कर कहा था कि यह यज्ञ ब्राह्मणके दिये हुए सेरभर सत्तूके बराबर भी नहीं है। सर्वथा ऐसी ही बात है
śvaśura uvāca: saktuprasthena yajño ’yaṃ sammito neti sarvathā | brāhmaṇaśiromaṇe! īśīse maine haṅkār kahā thā ki ayaṃ yajño brāhmaṇake diye hue serabhara sattūke barābara bhī na hi hai | sarvathā aisī hī bāta hai |
Le beau-père dit : «Ce sacrifice ne peut, en aucune manière, être tenu pour égal ne fût-ce qu’à un simple prastha de sattu, la farine d’orge grillée. Ô joyau de la couronne parmi les brahmanes, voilà pourquoi j’ai parlé avec une conviction inébranlable : ce grand rite n’est même pas comparable à la petite mesure de sattu donnée par un brahmane. Oui, telle est la vérité entière.»
श्षशुर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage stresses that spiritual worth is not guaranteed by the outward magnitude of a ritual. A seemingly small, sincere gift (like a measured portion of sattu offered by a Brahmin) can surpass a grand sacrifice if the latter lacks the right ethical and devotional substance. True merit depends on intention, purity, and dharmic conduct rather than spectacle.
A father-in-law addresses an esteemed Brahmin and reiterates his earlier emphatic judgment: the ongoing sacrifice should not be considered equal—even remotely—to a simple measure of sattu given by a Brahmin. He frames this as a categorical truth, underscoring a critique of the sacrifice’s value when compared with a humble but meaningful offering.