Shloka 18
Nāga–Nāgabhāryā Saṃvāda: Varṇa-Dharma, Gṛhastha-Discipline, and Mokṣa-Self-Inquiry
Mahābhārata 12.347
वृषाकपिरुवाच अहं हि पितर: स्रष्टमुद्यतो लोककृत् स्वयम् | यस्य चिन्तयतः सद्यः पितृकार्यविधीन् परान्
vṛṣākapir uvāca: ahaṃ hi pitarāḥ sraṣṭum udyato lokakṛt svayam | yasya cintayataḥ sadyaḥ pitṛkāryavidhīn parān, bhagavān varāhaḥ— “ahaṃ hī samasta-lokānāṃ sraṣṭā; ahaṃ svayam eva yadā pitr̥ṇāṃ sṛṣṭaye udyataḥ pitṛkārya-sambandhīr anyā vidhīś cintayitum ārabhe, tadā mama dantābhyāṃ ime trayaḥ piṇḍā dakṣiṇa-diśi bhūmau nipetūḥ; ata ime piṇḍāḥ pitṛ-svarūpā eva.”
弗沙迦毗（Vṛṣākapi）说：“我自身即是诸世界的造作者；我亲自起意，要创造诸祖灵（Pitṛ）。当我开始思惟与祖先供献相关的进一步仪轨与法度之时，就在那一刹那，三枚祭团（piṇḍa）从我两根獠牙坠落，向南方落于大地。因此，这些祭团本身即具祖灵之性。”
नारद उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage grounds Pitṛ-dharma (duties to ancestors) in a sacred origin: the piṇḍa offered in śrāddha is not merely symbolic but is treated as a Pitṛ-embodiment, and the southern direction is ritually significant for ancestral rites.
Vṛṣākapi recounts a mythic moment of creation: while preparing to create the Pitṛs and reflecting on the procedures of ancestral rites, three piṇḍas fall from his tusks onto the earth toward the south, and he declares these piṇḍas to be of Pitṛ-nature—explaining the sanctity of piṇḍa offerings.