Shloka 46

Pitṛ-śrāddha-haviḥ-phala-nirdeśa

Offerings for Ancestors and Their Stated Results

Devanagari script

ता: पर्वतप्रस्नरवणैरूष्मां मुज्चन्ति भार्गव । पावकेनाधिशयता संतप्तास्तस्य तेजसा

Transliteration

tāḥ parvata-prasravaṇair ūṣmāṃ muñcanti bhārgava | pāvakena adhiśayatā saṃtaptās tasya tejasā ||

Translation

பீஷ்மர் கூறினார்— ஓ பார்கவா! அக்னியின் மேலான வல்லமையாலும் அவன் ஒளித்தீவிரத்தாலும் காய்ந்த அந்த நீர்கள் மலை ஊற்றுகளின் வழியே தமது வெப்பத்தை வெளியிடுகின்றன.

Word by Word

• {'tāḥ': 'those (feminine plural

• here, the waters)', 'parvata': 'mountain', 'prasravaṇa': 'spring, flowing forth, mountain stream', 'ūṣmā': 'heat, warmth', 'muñcanti': 'they release, they emit, they let go', 'bhārgava': 'O Bhargava

• descendant of Bhṛgu (address to a Bhṛgu-line sage, often Paraśurāma)', 'pāvaka': 'Fire

• Agni', 'adhiśayatā': 'by surpassing/exceeding (instrumental sense)

• by superior intensity', 'saṃtaptāḥ': 'heated, scorched, made hot', 'tasya': 'of him, of that (Agni)', 'tejasā': 'by radiance, by fiery energy (instrumental)'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma (Bhīṣma)
• Bhargava (Bhārgava)
• Agni (Pāvaka)
• mountains (parvata)
• mountain springs/streams (prasravaṇa)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse teaches a principle of causality: powerful forces (here, Agni’s tejas) leave lasting effects, and those effects manifest in the world in observable ways (heat emerging through springs). It frames natural phenomena within a sacred, ordered cosmos.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhishma addresses Bhargava and explains that certain waters, having been heated by Agni’s superior fiery energy, discharge that heat through mountain springs—an etiological explanation for warm springs/streams.