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The Sacred Laws of the Âryas: Âpastamba - Prasna I, Patala 6
Khanda 18
1. Honey, uncooked (grain), venison, land, roots, fruits, (a promise of) safety, a pasture for cattle, a house, and fodder for a draught-ox may be accepted (even) from an Ugra.1
2. Hârita declares, that even these (presents) are to be accepted only if they have been obtained by a pupil.
3. Or they (Brâhmana householders) may accept (from an Ugra) uncooked or (a little) unflavoured boiled food.
4. (Of such food) they shall not take a great quantity (but only so much as suffices to support life).2
5. If (in times of distress) he is unable to keep himself, he may eat (food obtained from anybody),
6. After having touched it (once) with gold,
7. Or (having touched it with) fire.
8. He shall not be too eager after (such a way of living). He shall leave it when he has obtained a (lawful) livelihood.3
9. (A student of the Brahmanic caste) who has returned home shall not eat (in the house) of people belonging to the three tribes, beginning with the Kshatriya (i. e. of Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, and Sûdras).4
10. He may (usually) eat (the food) of a Brâhmana on account of (the giver's) character (as a Brâhmana). It must be avoided for particular reasons only.
11. He shall not eat in a house where (the host) performs a rite which is not a rite of penance, whilst he ought to perform a penance.5
12. But when the penance has been performed, he may eat (in that house).6
13. According to some (food offered by people) of any caste, who follow the laws prescribed for them, except that of Sûdras, may be eaten.
14. (In times of distress) even the food of a Sûdra, who lives under one's protection for the sake of spiritual merit, (may be eaten).7
15. He may eat it, after having touched it (once) with gold or with fire. He shall not be too eager after (such a way of living). He shall leave it when he obtains a (lawful) livelihood.8
16. Food received from a multitude of givers must not be eaten,9
17. Nor food offered by a general invitation (to all comers).10
18. Food offered by an artisan must not be eaten,11
19. Nor (that of men) who live by the use of arms (with the exception of Kshatriyas),12
20. Nor (that of men) who live by letting lodgings or land.
21. A (professional) physician is a person whose food must not be eaten,13
22. (Also) a usurer,14
23. (Also) a Brâhmana who has performed the Dîkshanîyeshti (or initiatory ceremony of the Soma-sacrifice) before he has bought the king (Soma).15
24. (The food given by a person who has performed the Dîkshanîyeshti may be eaten), when the victim sacred to Agni and Soma has been slain.
25. Or after that the omentum of the victim (sacred to Agni and Soma) has been offered.16
26. For a Brâhmana declares, 'Or they may eat of the remainder of the animal, after having set apart a portion for the offering.'
27. A eunuch (is a person whose food must not be eaten),17
28. (Likewise) the (professional) messenger employed by a king (or others),18
29. (Likewise a Brâhmana) who offers substances that are not fit for a sacrifice,19
30. (Likewise) a spy,20
31. (Also) a person who has become an ascetic without (being authorized thereto by) the rules (of the law),21
32. (Also) he who forsakes the sacred fires without performing the sacrifice necessary on that occasion),22
33. Likewise a learned Brâhmana who avoids everybody, or eats the food of anybody, or neglects the (daily) recitation of the Veda, (and) he whose (only living) wife is of the Sûdra caste.23
Khanda 19
1. A drunkard, a madman, a prisoner, he who learns the Veda from his son, a creditor who sits with his debtor (hindering the fulfilment of his duties), a debtor who thus sits (with his creditor, are persons whose food must not be eaten) as long as they are thus engaged or in that state.24
2. Who (then) are those whose food may be eaten?25
3. Kanva declares, that it is he who wishes to give.
4. Kautsa declares, that it is he who is holy.26
5. Vârshyâyani declares, that it is every giver (of food).
6. For if guilt remains fixed on the man (who committed a crime, then food given by a sinner) may be eaten (because the guilt cannot leave the sinner). But if guilt can leave (the sinner at any time, then food given by the sinner may be eaten because) he becomes pure by the gift (which he makes).
7. Offered food, which is pure, may be eaten, according to Eka, Kunika, Kânva, Kutsa, and Pushkarasâdi.
8. Vârshyâyani's opinion is, that (food) given unasked (may be accepted) from anybody.
9. (Food offered) willingly by a holy man may be eaten.
10. Food given unwillingly by a holy man ought not to be eaten.27
11. Food offered unasked by any person whatsoever may be eaten,
12. 'But not if it be given after an express previous announcement;' thus says Hârita.
13. Now they quote also in a Purâna the following two verses:28
'The Lord of creatures has declared, that food offered unasked and brought by the giver himself, may be eaten, though (the giver be) a sinner, provided the gift has not been announced beforehand. The Manes of the ancestors of that man who spurns such food, do not eat (his oblations) for fifteen years, nor does the fire carry his offerings (to the gods).'
14. (Another verse from a Purâna declares): 'The food given by a physician, a hunter, a surgeon, a fowler, an unfaithful wife, or a eunuch must not be eaten.'29
15. Now (in confirmation of this) they quote (the following verse): 'The murderer of a Brâhmana learned in the Veda heaps his guilt on his guest, an innocent man on his calumniator, a thief set at liberty on the king, and the petitioner on him who makes false promises.'30
Footnotes
1. Manu IV, 247. 'Ugra denotes either a bad twice-born man. or the offspring of a Vaisya and of a Sûdra-woman. Other persons of a similar character must be understood to be included by the term.'--Haradatta.
2. Also this rule seems to belong to Hârita, on account of its close connection with the preceding two.
3. Haradatta quotes, in support of the last Sûtras, a passage of the Khândogya Upanishad, I, 10, 1, and one from the .Rig-veda, IV, 18, 13, according to which it would be lawful to eat even impure food, as a dog's entrails, under such circumstances. Other commentators explain this and the preceding three Sûtras differently. According to them the translation would run thus: 'If he himself does not find any livelihood (in times of distress, he may dwell even with low-caste people who give him something to eat, and) he may eat (food given by them) paying for it with (some small gift in) gold or with animals.' This second explanation is perhaps preferable.
4. Manu IV, 219, and 223.
5. If a Brâhmana who has been ordered to perform a penance, performs a Vaisvadeva or other rite without heeding the order of his spiritual teacher, then a student who has returned home ought not to eat in his house, until the enjoined penance has been performed.'--Haradatta.
6. 'The use of the part. perf. pass. "performed" indicates that he must not eat there, whilst the penance is being performed.'--Haradatta.
7. Yâgñ. 1, 166.
8. Manu IV, 223
9. Manu IV, 209.
10. Manu IV, 209; Yâgñ. I, 168.
11. Manu IV, 2 10, 215; Yâgñ. I, 162-164.
12. Yâgñ. I, 164.
13. Manu IV, 212; Yâgñ. I, 162.
14. Manu IV, 210; Yâgñ. I, 161.
15. 'That is to say, one who has begun, but not finished a Soma-sacrifice.'--Haradatta. Manu IV, 210, and Gopatha-brâhmana III, 19.
16. Aitareya-brâhmana II, 1, 9.
17. Manu I V, 211; Yâgñ. I, 161.
18. The village or town messengers are always men of the lowest castes, such as the Mahârs of Mahârâshthra.
19. 'For example, he who offers human blood in a magic rite.'--Haradatta.
20. Haradatta explains kârî, translated by 'spy,' to mean 'a secret adherent of the Sâkta sect' (gûdhakârî, sâktah). The existence of this sect in early times has not hitherto been proved.
21. Haradatta gives the Sâkyas or Bauddhas as an instance. But it is doubtful, whether Âpastamba meant to refer to them, though it seems probable that heretics are intended.
22. Yâgñ. I, 160.
23. 'Who avoids everybody, i.e. who neither invites nor dines with anybody.'--Haradatta.
24. Manu IV, 207; Yâgñ. I, 161, 162. Another commentator explains anika, translated above 'he who learns the Veda from his son,' by 'a money-lender,' and combines pratyupavishtah with this word, i.e. 'a money-lender who sits with his debtor hindering him from fulfilling his duties.' This manner of forcing a debtor to pay, which is also called Âkarita (see Manu VIII, 49), is, though illegal, resorted to sometimes even now.
25. 'The object of this Sûtra is to introduce the great variety of opinions quoted below.'--Haradatta.
26. 'Holy' means not only 'following his lawful occupations,' but particularly 'practising austerities, reciting prayers, and offering burnt-oblations.'--Haradatta.
27. Another commentator explains this Sûtra thus: 'He need not eat the food offered by a righteous man, if he himself does not wish to do so.'--Haradatta.
28. See Manu IV, 248 and 249, where these identical verses occur.
29. Manu IV, 211, 212.
30. Regarding the liberation of the thief, see Âpastamba I, 9, 25, 4. A similar verse occurs Manu VIII, 317, which has caused the confusion observable in many MSS., as has been stated in the critical notes to the text.
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