Markandeya Purana — Adhyaya 26, Shloka 28
Adhyaya 26 — Madālasa Names Alarka and Reorients Him Toward Kshatriya Duty
कर्ममार्गः समुच्छेदं नैवं देवि ! गमिष्यति ।
पितृपिण्डनिवृत्तिश्च नैवं साध्वि ! भविष्यति ॥
karma-mārgaḥ samucchedaṃ naivaṃ devi! gamiṣyati / pitṛ-piṇḍa-nivṛttiś ca naivaṃ sādhvi! bhaviṣyati //
“噢，女神（Devi）啊，如此并不能断绝所规定之行持之道。噢，贤德者啊，如此一来，向祖先奉献饭团（piṇḍa）的供养亦不可终止（不可停废）。”
FAQs
Dharma is intergenerational: household and royal duties sustain not only society but also the ritual economy of obligations to ancestors. Renunciation that breaks these duties is treated as adharma when undertaken without proper succession and provision.
Anucarita with dharma-upadeśa (ethical instruction) connected to vaṃśa maintenance.
Pitṛ offerings symbolize repayment of existential ‘debts’ (ṛṇa). Esoterically, stopping them implies severing the subtle bonds of continuity (saṃskāra/lineage-memory) that stabilize embodied life.