तीर्थवंशोपदेशः
Tīrtha-vaṃśa Upadeśa: Instruction on the Fruits of Sacred Waters
मन्त्रहीनं क्रियाहीनं यच्छाद्ध॑ परिविष्यते । त्रिभिर्वर्णैर्नरश्रेष्ठ तं भागं रक्षसां विदु:
mantrahīnaṁ kriyāhīnaṁ yac chrāddhaṁ pariviṣyate | tribhir varṇair naraśreṣṭha taṁ bhāgaṁ rakṣasāṁ viduḥ ||
ビーシュマは言った。「人のうち最も優れた者よ、ヴェーダの真言を欠き、定められた作法を伴わぬままシュラーダ(śrāddha)に供される食は、三ヴァルナの人々によって、羅刹(rākṣasa)の分と知られている。」
भीष्म उवाच
Śrāddha is presented as a dharmic act that must be performed with both mantra (sacred recitation) and kriyā (prescribed ritual procedure). When these are absent, the offering is treated as spiritually misdirected—symbolically said to become the ‘share of the rākṣasas’ rather than benefiting the intended ancestors.
In the Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma, including rules for gifts and ancestral rites. Here he warns that serving śrāddha food without Vedic mantras and proper observances is considered improper by the orthodox social order (the three varṇas) and is condemned as yielding an inauspicious, demonic ‘portion.’