Shloka 16
अगस्त्यस्य वित्तयाचनं तथा इल्वलोपभिक्षणनिर्णयः
Agastya’s request for wealth and the decision to seek resources from Ilvala
ते तस्मै कथयामासुर्वयं ते पितर: स्वका: । गर्तमेतमनुप्राप्ता लम्बाम: प्रसवार्थिन:,उन्होंने अगस्त्यके पूछनेपर बताया कि “हम तुम्हारे ही पितर हैं। संतानके इच्छुक होकर इस गड़्ढेमें लटक रहे हैं!
te tasmai kathayāmāsur vayaṁ te pitaraḥ svakāḥ | gartam etam anuprāptā lambāmaḥ prasavārthinaḥ ||
They replied to him: “We are your own forefathers. Having fallen into this pit, we hang here, longing for offspring.” The statement frames a moral urgency: the continuity of lineage and the performance of duties toward ancestors are not merely private desires but obligations whose neglect is pictured as ancestral distress.
लोगश उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores pitṛ-dharma: responsibility toward one’s ancestors is tied to sustaining the family line. The ancestors’ plight symbolizes the ethical consequence of neglecting obligations such as marriage, progeny, and rites that maintain continuity and repay the ancestral debt (pitṛ-ṛṇa).
A group of beings identifies themselves as the listener’s own forefathers. They explain that they are suspended in a pit because they are yearning for descendants—implying that without progeny (and the attendant rites), their condition remains unresolved.