Shloka 45

Pitṛ-śrāddha-haviḥ-phala-nirdeśa

Offerings for Ancestors and Their Stated Results

Devanagari script

उत्पादने तथोपायमभिजम्मुश्न मानवा: । आपो रसालले यास्तु संस्पृष्टाश्चित्रभानुना

Transliteration

utpādane tathopāyam abhijajñuḥ manuṣyāḥ | āpo rasātale yās tu saṃspṛṣṭāś citrabhānunā, bhārgava! |

Translation

Bhīṣma disse: “Ó Bhārgava, para fazer surgir o fogo, os homens descobriram o método—produzi-lo por fricção (da madeira de śamī). E as águas que, em Rasātala (o mundo subterrâneo), entraram em contato com o Deus do Fogo, Citrabhānu, aquecem-se por seu fulgor; liberando esse calor, emergem como fontes termais nas montanhas.”

Word by Word

• {'utpādane': 'in producing, in bringing forth (especially fire here)', 'upāya': 'means, method, practical device', 'abhijajñuḥ': 'they came to know, they discovered', 'manuṣyāḥ': 'human beings', 'āpaḥ': 'waters', 'rasātale': 'in Rasātala, the nether region', 'yāḥ tu': 'those which indeed', 'saṃspṛṣṭāḥ': 'touched, contacted', 'citrabhānunā': 'by Citrabhānu (a name of Agni, the Fire-god)', 'bhārgava': 'O Bhārgava (descendant of Bhṛgu

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• Bhārgava (a Bhṛgu-descendant sage, addressee)
• Agni
• Citrabhānu
• Rasātala
• śamī (wood used for fire-churning)
• mountain springs (heated waters)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The passage links human ingenuity and ritual knowledge (discovering fire by friction) with a dharmic-cosmic view of nature: phenomena like hot springs are explained as effects of Agni’s presence and power, reinforcing reverence for elemental forces central to Vedic life.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhīṣma addresses a Bhārgava sage and explains (1) how people learned the practical method of manifesting fire through churning wood (śamī), and (2) why certain waters become hot—because they touched Agni in Rasātala and later release that heat as warm springs.