Shloka 5
तीर्थवंशोपदेशः
Tīrtha-vaṃśa Upadeśa: Instruction on the Fruits of Sacred Waters
अवषुष्ट च यद् भुक्तमव्रतेन च भारत । परामृष्टं शुना चैव तं भागं रक्षसां विदु:
avaṣuṣṭaṃ ca yad bhuktam avratena ca bhārata | parāmṛṣṭaṃ śunā caiva taṃ bhāgaṃ rakṣasāṃ viduḥ ||
Bhishma berkata: “Wahai keturunan Bharata, makanan yang telah diumumkan di hadapan umum (sebagai telah diperuntukkan atau dipanggil), yang telah dimakan oleh orang yang tidak berada dalam nazar kesucian, atau yang disentuh anjing—bahagian itu difahami sebagai milik para rākṣasa.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Food intended for righteous use must be protected by discipline (vrata/ācāra) and purity; once it is improperly claimed, eaten by an undisciplined person, or contaminated (e.g., by a dog), it becomes unfit for dharmic consumption and is figuratively assigned to rākṣasas.
In Bhishma’s instruction to Yudhishthira on right conduct, he lists conditions under which food becomes ritually tainted—publicly called out/claimed, eaten by an avratin, or touched by a dog—and states that such a portion is regarded as belonging to rākṣasas, i.e., outside the sphere of proper human religious eating.