Shloka 18

Dharma-vyādha’s Analysis of Moral Decline and the Mahābhūta–Guṇa Schema (धर्मव्याधोपदेशः)

Devanagari script

वर्जनीया: प्रयत्नेन काण्डपृष्ठाश्न देहिनः । जुगुप्सितं हि यच्छाद्धं दहत्यग्निरिवेन्धनम्‌,श्राद्धकालमें प्रयत्त करके उत्तम ब्राह्मणोंको ही भोजन कराना चाहिये। जिनके शरीरका रंग घृणाजनक हो, नख काले पड़ गये हों, जो कोढ़ी और धूर्त हो, पिताकी जीवित-अवस्थामें ही माताके व्यभिचारसे जिनका जन्म हुआ हो अथवा जो विधवा माताके पेटसे पैदा हुए हों और जो पीठपर तरकस बाँधे क्षत्रियवृत्तिसे जीविका चलाते हों, ऐसे ब्राह्मणोंको श्राद्धमें प्रयत्नपूर्वक त्याग दे; क्योंकि उनको भोजन करानेसे श्राद्ध निन्दित हो जाता है और निन्दित श्राद्ध यजमानको उसी प्रकार नष्ट कर देता है, जैसे अग्नि काष्ठको जला डालती है

Transliteration

Mārkaṇḍeya uvāca | varjanīyāḥ prayatnena kāṇḍa-pṛṣṭhāśinaḥ dehinaḥ | jugupsitaṃ hi yac chrāddhaṃ dahaty agnir ivendhanam ||

Translation

Mārkaṇḍeya said: One should carefully exclude from the śrāddha those embodied persons who live by ignoble means—those who eat what is left on the back of a broken pot (i.e., who subsist on impure, contemptible remnants). For a śrāddha that becomes blameworthy is truly repulsive, and it destroys the patron just as fire consumes fuel. (In context, the instruction is that the rite should be offered to worthy brāhmaṇas; feeding the unfit turns the ancestral offering into a cause of harm rather than merit.)

Word by Word

वर्जनीयाःto be avoided

प्रयत्नेनwith effort

काण्डपृष्ठाश्नाःthose who eat on/at the quiver-back (i.e., living by Kshatriya ways, bearing a quiver)

देहिनःembodied persons

जुगुप्सितम्disgusting, reprehensible

हिindeed, for

यत्which

श्राद्धम्Śrāddha rite

दहतिburns, destroys

अग्निःfire

इवlike, as

इन्धनम्fuel, firewood

Speaker

मार्कण्डेय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Mārkaṇḍeya

śrāddha

agni (fire)

indhana (fuel)

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Śrāddha should be performed with discernment: inviting and feeding unworthy recipients makes the rite ‘blameworthy’ (jugupsita) and turns it into a source of harm for the patron, metaphorically consuming his merit like fire consuming fuel.

What is happening in the narrative?

Mārkaṇḍeya is instructing about proper conduct in śrāddha—specifically, whom to exclude—within a broader didactic passage on dharma and ritual correctness in the Vana Parva.