Canto 3 -
Araṇya-kāṇḍa
Chapter 11: Rāma Goes to Agastya’s Āśrama
Text 3.11.59
भ्रातरं संस्कृतं कृत्वा ततस्तं मेषरूपिणम्।
तान्द्विजान्भोजयामास श्राद्धदृष्टेन कर्मणा॥
bhrātaraṁ saṁskṛtaṁ kṛtvā tatas taṁ meṣa-rūpiṇam
tān dvijān bhojayām āsa śrāddha-dṛṣṭena karmaṇā
bhrātaram = his brother [Vātāpi]; saṁskṛtam kṛtvā = he would purify, sacrifice and cook; tataḥ = and then; tam meṣa-rūpiṇam = who had assumed the form of a ram; tān = those; dvijān = twice-born; bhojayām āsa = feed; śrāddha-dṛṣṭena = prescribed for śrāddha; karmaṇā = according to the rituals.
He would purify, sacrifice and cook his brother [Vātāpi] who had assumed the form of a ram and then feed those twice-born according to the rituals prescribed for śrāddha.
Saṁskṛtaṁ kṛtvā indicates that Ilvala would purify, sacrifice and cook [Vātāpi] as was appropriate for the performance of śrāddha.
NOTE. In the ages prior to Kali-yuga, śrāddha offerings to the forefathers containing animal flesh (pala-paitṛka) were permitted. However, as taught by Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, this is one of the five activities forbidden in Kali-yuga:
aśvamedhaṁ gavālambhaṁ sannyāsaṁ pala-paitṛkam
devareṇa sutotpattiṁ kalau pañca vivarjayet
“In this Age of Kali, five acts are forbidden: the offering of a horse in sacrifice, the offering of a cow in sacrifice, the acceptance of the order of sannyāsa, the offering of oblations of flesh to the forefathers, and a man’s begetting children in his brother’s wife.” (Brahma-vaivarta Purāṇa, Kṛṣṇa-janma-khaṇḍa 185.180)