Shloka 16
Yuddha-yajña-vyākhyāna (The Battle as Sacrifice): Ambarīṣa–Indra Saṃvāda
शृगालगृभ्रकाकोला: सदस्यास्तत्र पत्रिण: | आज्यशेषं पिबन्त्येते हवि: प्राश्नन्ति चाध्वरे
śṛgāla-gṛdhra-kākolāḥ sadasyās tatra patriṇaḥ | ājya-śeṣaṃ pibanty ete haviḥ prāśnanti cādhvare ||
सियार, गिधाड, कावळे आणि इतर मांसाहारी पक्षी त्या यज्ञाचे सदस्य आहेत; ते यज्ञावशिष्ट घृत (रक्त) पितात आणि त्या अध्वरातील अर्पित हविष्य (मांस) खातात.
अम्बरीष उवाच
Educational Q&A
A ritual that becomes entangled with violence and impure consumption is condemned as a distortion of dharma. The verse uses stark imagery—scavengers as ‘ritual members’—to show that unethical sacrifice attracts base forces rather than sanctity.
Ambarīṣa is describing a sacrifice in which the leftovers (ghee/offerings) are consumed by jackals, vultures, crows, and other flesh-eating birds, implying the rite has degenerated into something akin to a slaughter-feast rather than a purifying yajña.