Adhyaya 26 — Madālasa Names Alarka and Reorients Him Toward Kshatriya Duty
सपुण्यानसपुण्यांश्च क्षुत्क्षामान् तृट्परिप्लुतान् ।
पिण्डोदकप्रदानेन नरः कर्मण्यवस्थितः ॥
sapuṇyān asapuṇyāṃś ca kṣut-kṣāmān tṛṭ-pariplutān / piṇḍodaka-pradānena naraḥ karmaṇy avasthitaḥ //
«Будь они достойны заслуг или нет, будь они изнурены голодом или мучимы жаждой, — поднося рисовые шарики (piṇḍa) и воду, человек, утверждённый в дхарме, поддерживает их.»
Ritual giving is presented as humanitarian across moral status: one’s duty is to support the departed without judging their merit. Dharma functions as care, not merely reward.
Dharma-upadeśa embedded in narrative (Anucarita).
Hunger and thirst signify subtle deprivation in post-mortem states; piṇḍa and udaka become archetypes of ‘form’ and ‘life-fluid’ offered back into the ancestral stream, restoring balance.