Shloka 23

Adhyāya 166: Kṛtaghna-doṣa (कृतघ्नदोषः) — the fault of ingratitude and the limits of expiation

Devanagari script

प्राजापत्यमदत्त्वाश्चमग्न्याधेयस्य दक्षिणाम्‌ । अनाहिताग्निरिति स प्रोच्यते धर्मदर्शिभि:,जो अग्निहोत्र आरम्भ करके प्रजापति देवताके लिये अश्वरूप दक्षिणाका दान नहीं करता, धर्मदर्शी पुरुष उसे अनाहिताग्नि कहते- हैं

Transliteration

prājāpatyam adattvāś ca agnyādheyasya dakṣiṇām | anāhitāgnir iti sa procyate dharmadarśibhiḥ ||

Translation

毗湿摩曰：凡开行阿格尼耶陀那（Agnyādhāna，建立圣火之礼）而不奉献规定献与生主（Prajāpati）之达克希那——即“马形”酬礼者——在洞见法者看来，当称为“阿那希塔阿格尼”（anāhitāgni，未正立圣火者）。

Word by Word

प्राजापत्यम्Prajapati-related (Prajapatya)

अदत्त्वाhaving not given

चand

अग्न्याधेयस्यof the Agnyādhāna (establishing the sacred fires)

दक्षिणाम्the sacrificial fee (dakṣiṇā)

अनाहिताग्निःone who has not established the sacred fires

इतिthus

सःhe

प्रोच्यतेis called / is said

धर्मदर्शिभिःby the seers of dharma / those who perceive dharma

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhīṣma

Prajāpati

Agnyādhāna (Agnyādheya)

Dakṣiṇā (ritual fee)

Aśva (horse, as the specified form of dakṣiṇā in the given gloss)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Ritual acts are incomplete without fulfilling their prescribed obligations—especially the proper dakṣiṇā. Merely lighting or commencing the sacred-fire rite does not confer the status of an ‘āhitāgni’ unless the rite is completed in accordance with dharma.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Bhīṣma’s instruction on dharma in the Śānti Parva, he defines a normative standard: a person who starts Agnyādhāna but withholds the Prajāpati-related dakṣiṇā is judged by dharma-knowers as effectively ‘not having established the fires’ (anāhitāgni).