Sanskrit
सङ्करो नरकायैव कुलघ्नानां कुलस्य च । पतन्ति पितरो ह्येषां लुप्तपिण्डोदकक्रियाः ॥
saṅkaro narakāyaiva kulaghnānāṃ kulasya ca patanti pitaro hy eṣāṃ luptapiṇḍodakakriyāḥ
Translation
This confusion draggeth to hell the slayers of the family, and the family; for their ancestors fall, deprived of rice-balls and libations.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
The argument’s next consequence is ritual rather than social: the offerings of rice-balls and water (piṇḍa and udaka) owed to ancestors in the śrāddha rites depend on family continuity, so a family’s destruction is described as starving its own dead. It’s a claim rooted entirely in a specific ritual worldview, extending verse 41’s social-consequences chain one step further.
Concepts