Shloka 18
Nāga–Nāgabhāryā Saṃvāda: Varṇa-Dharma, Gṛhastha-Discipline, and Mokṣa-Self-Inquiry
Mahābhārata 12.347
वृषाकपिरुवाच अहं हि पितर: स्रष्टमुद्यतो लोककृत् स्वयम् | यस्य चिन्तयतः सद्यः पितृकार्यविधीन् परान्,भगवान् वराहने कहा--मैं ही सम्पूर्ण लोकोंका स्रष्टा हूँ। मैं स्वयं ही जब पितरोंकी सृष्टिके लिये उद्यत हो पितृकार्यसम्बन्धी दूसरी विधियोंका चिन्तन करने लगा, उसी क्षण मेरी दो दाढ़ोंसे ये तीन पिण्ड दक्षिण दिशाकी ओर पृथ्वीपर गिर पड़े; अतः ये पिण्ड पितृस्वरूप ही हैं
vṛṣākapir uvāca: ahaṃ hi pitarāḥ sraṣṭum udyato lokakṛt svayam | yasya cintayataḥ sadyaḥ pitṛkāryavidhīn parān, bhagavān varāhaḥ— “ahaṃ hī samasta-lokānāṃ sraṣṭā; ahaṃ svayam eva yadā pitr̥ṇāṃ sṛṣṭaye udyataḥ pitṛkārya-sambandhīr anyā vidhīś cintayitum ārabhe, tadā mama dantābhyāṃ ime trayaḥ piṇḍā dakṣiṇa-diśi bhūmau nipetūḥ; ata ime piṇḍāḥ pitṛ-svarūpā eva.”
ヴリシャーカピは言った。「我こそ諸世界の創り手であり、我自らピトリ（祖霊）を創造せんと起った。祖霊供養に関わるさらなる儀軌と作法を思惟し始めた、その瞬間、三つのピンダ（piṇḍa）が我が二本の牙より落ち、南方へ向かって大地に落下した。ゆえにこれらのピンダは、それ自体がピトリの本性を帯びるのである。」
नारद उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage grounds Pitṛ-dharma (duties to ancestors) in a sacred origin: the piṇḍa offered in śrāddha is not merely symbolic but is treated as a Pitṛ-embodiment, and the southern direction is ritually significant for ancestral rites.
Vṛṣākapi recounts a mythic moment of creation: while preparing to create the Pitṛs and reflecting on the procedures of ancestral rites, three piṇḍas fall from his tusks onto the earth toward the south, and he declares these piṇḍas to be of Pitṛ-nature—explaining the sanctity of piṇḍa offerings.