[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Epic, Poetry, Drama & Narrative](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit) › [The Mahābhārata and its versions](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata) › [The Great Epic of the Bhārata dynasty](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa) › 13.88 # The Great Epic of the Bhārata dynasty 13.88: aṣṭāśītitamo'dhyāyaḥ Mahābhārata 13.88 - **Language:** Sanskrit ### aṣṭāśītitamo'dhyāyaḥ ### [13.88.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.13.88.1) yudhiṣṭhira uvāca | kiṃ sviddattaṃ pitṛbhyo vai bhavatyakṣayamīśvara | kiṃ haviścirarātrāya kimānantyāya kalpate || 1 || > "Yudhishthira said, 'O thou of great puissance, tell me what that object is which, if dedicated to the Pitris, becomes inexhaustible! What Havi, again, (if offered) lasts for all time? What, indeed, is that which (if presented) becomes eternal?'" > — Kisari Mohan Ganguli 1883, The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa ### [13.88.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.13.88.2) bhīṣma uvāca | havīṃṣi śrāddhakalpe tu yāni śrāddhavido viduḥ | tāni me śṛṇu kāmyāni phalaṃ caiṣāṃ yudhiṣṭhira || 2 || > "Bhishma said, 'Listen to me, O Yudhishthira, what those Havis are which persons conversant with the ritual of the Sraddha regard as suitable in view of the Sraddha and what the fruits are that attach to each. With sesame seeds and rice and barley and Masha and water and roots and fruits, if given at Sraddhas, the Pitris, O king, remain gratified for the period of a month. Manu has said that if a Sraddha is performed with a copious measure of sesame, such Sraddha becomes inexhaustible. Of all kinds of food, sesame seeds are regarded as the best. With fishes offered at Sraddhas, the Pitris remain gratified for a period of two months. With mutton they remain gratified for three months and with the flesh of the hare for four. With the flesh of the goat, O king, they remain gratified for five months, with bacon for six months, and with the flesh of birds for seven. With venison obtained from those deer that are called Prishata, they remain gratified for eight months, and with that obtained from the Ruru for nine months, and with the meat of the Gavaya for ten months. > — Kisari Mohan Ganguli 1883, The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa ### [13.88.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.13.88.3) tilairvrīhiyavairmāṣairadbhirmūlaphalaistathā | dattena māsaṃ prīyante śrāddhena pitaro nṛpa || 3 || ### [13.88.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.13.88.4) vardhamānatilaṃ śrāddhamakṣayaṃ manurabravīt | sarveṣveva tu bhojyeṣu tilāḥ prādhānyataḥ smṛtāḥ || 4 || ### [13.88.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.13.88.5) dvau māsau tu bhavettṛptirmatsyaiḥ pitṛgaṇasya ha | trīnmāsānāvikenāhuścāturmāsyaṃ śaśena tu || 5 || ### [13.88.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.13.88.6) ājena māsānprīyante pañcaiva pitaro nṛpa | vārāheṇa tu ṣaṇmāsānsapta vai śākunena tu || 6 || ### [13.88.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.13.88.7) māsānaṣṭau pārṣatena rauraveṇa navaiva tu | gavayasya tu māṃsena tṛptiḥ syāddaśamāsikī || 7 || ### [13.88.8](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.13.88.8) māsānekādaśa prītiḥ pitṝṇāṃ māhiṣeṇa tu | gavyena datte śrāddhe tu saṃvatsaramihocyate || 8 || > \[paragraph continues\] With the meat of the buffalo their gratification lasts for eleven months. With beef presented at the Sraddha, their gratification, it is said, lasts for a full year. Payasa mixed with ghee is as much acceptable to the Pitris as beef. With the meat of the Vadhrinasa the gratification of the Pitris lasts for twelve years. The flesh of the rhinoceros, offered to the Pitris on the anniversaries of the lunar days on which they died, becomes inexhaustible. The potherb called Kalasaka, the petals of the Kanchana flower, and meat of the goat also, thus offered, prove inexhaustible. In this connection, O Yudhishthira, there are some verses, originally sung by the Pitris, that are sung (in the world). They were communicated to me in former days by Sanatkumara.--He that has taken birth in our race should give us Payasa mixed with ghee on the thirteenth day (of the dark fortnight), under the constellation Magha, during the Sun's southward course. One born in our race should, under the constellation Magha, as if in the observance of a vow, offer the meat of goat or the petals of the Kanchana flower. One should also offer us, with due rites, Payasa mixed with ghee, dedicating it on a spot covered by the shadow of an elephant.--Many sons should be coveted so that even one may go to Gaya (for performing the Sraddha of his ancestors), where stands the banian that is celebrated over all the worlds and that makes all offerings made under its branches inexhaustible. Even a little of water, roots, fruits, meat, and rice, mixed with honey, if offered on the anniversary of the day of death becomes inexhaustible.'" > — Kisari Mohan Ganguli 1883, The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa ### [13.88.9](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.13.88.9) yathā gavyaṃ tathā yuktaṃ pāyasaṃ sarpiṣā saha | vādhrīṇasasya māṃsena tṛptirdvādaśavārṣikī || 9 || ### [13.88.10](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.13.88.10) ānantyāya bhaveddattaṃ khaḍgamāṃsaṃ pitṛkṣaye | kālaśākaṃ ca lauhaṃ cāpyānantyaṃ chāga ucyate || 10 || ### [13.88.11](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.13.88.11) gāthāścāpyatra gāyanti pitṛgītā yudhiṣṭhira | sanatkumāro bhagavānpurā mayyabhyabhāṣata || 11 || ### [13.88.12](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.13.88.12) api naḥ sa kule jāyādyo no dadyāttrayodaśīm | maghāsu sarpiṣā yuktaṃ pāyasaṃ dakṣiṇāyane || 12 || ### [13.88.13](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.13.88.13) ājena vāpi lauhena maghāsveva yatavrataḥ | hasticchāyāsu vidhivatkarṇavyajanavījitam || 13 || ### [13.88.14](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.13.88.14) eṣṭavyā bahavaḥ putrā yadyeko'pi gayāṃ vrajet | yatrāsau prathito lokeṣvakṣayyakaraṇo vaṭaḥ || 14 || ### [13.88.15](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.13.88.15) āpo mūlaṃ phalaṃ māṃsamannaṃ vāpi pitṛkṣaye | yatkiṃcinmadhusaṃmiśraṃ tadānantyāya kalpate || 15 || ## Translations (1) - [The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa~en-ganguli.13.88.1) — Kisari Mohan Ganguli 1883, English ## Commentaries (1) - [Bhāratabhāvadīpa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa!nilakantha.13.88.1) — Nīlakaṇṭha Caturdhara 1650, Sanskrit ## Other recensions (1) - [Vulgate (Nīlakaṇṭha's text)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa*vulgate.13.88.1) — Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.13.88](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.13.88) · Pramāṇa