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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.100.13

Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 100: Jābāli challenges the exile. He questions permanent family ties, offerings to the dead and belief in the unseen, urging Rāma to accept the available Kingdom

In the sequence: he questions whether offerings can feed the dead and mocks the idea by comparing it to feeding a traveler through someone else's meal

2.100.13

aṣṭakā pitṛdaivatyam ity ayaṃ prasṛto janaḥ
annasyopadravaṃ paśya mṛto hi kim aśiṣyati

'The Aṣṭakā rite is dedicated to the ancestors' — so these folk busy themselves. Behold the waste of food! For what will a dead man eat?

Words: aṣṭakā — the Aṣṭakā (ancestral rite); pitṛdaivatyam — having the ancestors as its deities; ity — thus; ayaṃ prasṛto janaḥ — these people are engaged; annasyopadravaṃ — the waste of food; paśya — behold, see; mṛto hi — for the dead one; kim aśiṣyati — what will he eat

Composed by Maharṣi Vālmīki, the ādikavi of the ādikāvya: the first poet of the first poem. Sanskrit: The Vālmīki-Rāmāyaṇa: Critical Edition, Oriental Institute, Baroda, 1960–1975 (gen. eds. G. H. Bhatt, U. P. Shah); IAST from GRETIL (Göttingen). Translation and word glosses: Claude Opus 4.6–4.7; summaries and sequences: ChatGPT Astra (machine-made). Numbering follows the Critical Edition, not the vulgate (e.g. Gita Press, valmikiramayan.net), so sarga and verse numbers can differ from those editions.