Shloka 8

Devanagari script

परोच्छिष्टं च यद्‌ भुक्तं परिभुक्त च यद्‌ भवेत्‌ । दैवे पित्रये च सततं त॑ भागं रक्षसां विदु:,जिसे दूसरोंने उच्छिष्ट कर दिया हो, जिसमेंसे किसीने भोजन कर लिया हो तथा जो देवता, पितर, अतिथि एवं बालक आदिको दिये बिना ही अपने उपभोगमें लाया गया हो, वह अन्न देवकर्म तथा पितृकर्ममें सदा राक्षस्रोंका ही भाग माना गया है

Transliteration

bhīṣma uvāca | parocchiṣṭaṃ ca yad bhuktaṃ paribhuktaṃ ca yad bhavet | daive pitrye ca satataṃ taṃ bhāgaṃ rakṣasāṃ viduḥ ||

Translation

ഭീഷ്മൻ പറഞ്ഞു—മറ്റൊരാളുടെ ഉച്ഛിഷ്ടമായ അന്നവും, ആരെങ്കിലും കഴിച്ചശേഷം ശേഷിച്ചതുമായ അന്നവും, ദേവന്മാർക്കും പിതൃകൾക്കും നിശ്ചിത ഭാഗം ആദ്യം അർപ്പിക്കാതെ സ്വയം ഭുജിച്ചതുമായ അന്നവും—ദൈവകർമ്മത്തിലും പിതൃകർമ്മത്തിലും എപ്പോഴും രാക്ഷസരുടെ ഭാഗമായിട്ടാണ് കണക്കാക്കപ്പെടുന്നത്.

Word by Word

• {'parocchiṣṭa': 'made into another’s leavings

• defiled by someone else’s remnants', 'ucchiṣṭa': 'leavings after eating

• ritually impure remainder', 'bhukta': 'eaten

• consumed', 'paribhukta': 'partly eaten/used up

• already enjoyed by someone', 'daiva': 'pertaining to the gods

• divine rite/oblation', 'pitrya (pitṛya)': 'pertaining to the Pitṛs (ancestors)

• ancestral rite/śrāddha context', 'satataṃ': 'always

• continually', 'bhāga': 'share

• allotted portion (in an offering/rite)', 'rakṣasām': 'of the rākṣasas (demons)

• belonging to demonic forces', 'viduḥ': 'they know/consider

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• Devas (gods)
• Pitṛs (ancestors)
• Rākṣasas

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

One should not use food that is another’s leavings or already eaten-from for divine or ancestral rites, and one should not consume food without first making the proper offerings; otherwise it is deemed spiritually impure and aligned with rākṣasic (harmful, unrighteous) influence.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Anuśāsana Parva’s instruction on dharma, Bhīṣma is teaching norms of conduct connected with offerings and purity, explaining which kinds of food are unfit for daiva and pitṛ rites and why such misuse is condemned.