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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.100.14

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

2.100.14

yadi bhuktam ihānyena deham anyasya gacchati
dadyāt pravasataḥ śrāddhaṃ na tat pathy aśanaṃ bhavet

If food eaten here by one could pass into the body of another, then one might offer a śrāddha for someone gone abroad, and it would serve him as food for the road (so he need carry none).

Words: yadi — if; bhuktam — (food) eaten; ihānyena — here by one; deham — the body; anyasya — of another; gacchati — goes into; dadyāt — one should give; pravasataḥ — for one gone abroad; śrāddhaṃ — the funeral offering (śrāddha); na tat — that would not (need to be); pathy aśanaṃ — food for the road; bhavet — would be

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.