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The Sacred Laws of the Âryas: Baudhâyana - Prasna II, Adhyâya 8
Kandikâ 14
1. The offering to the manes secures long life and heaven, is worthy of praise and a rite ensuring prosperity.1
2. Persons who sanctify the company are, a Trimadhu, a Trinâkiketa, a Trisuparna, one who keeps five fires, and one who knows the six Aṅgas, one who performs the vow called Siras, one who knows the Gyeshthasâman, (and) a Snâtaka;2
3. On failure of these, one who knows the (texts called) Rahasya.3
4. The Rik-verses, the Yagus-formulas, and the Sâmans (give) lustre to a funeral offering. Therefore he may feed (on that occasion) even a Sapinda relation who (knows) those (texts).4
5. Let him who feeds (Brâhmanas at a funeral sacrifice) cause them to hear successively the Rakshoghna Sâmans, the Yagus-formulas (called) Svadhâvat, the Rik-verses (called) Madhu, and the (texts called) Pavitras.5
6. Having invited on the day before (the Srâddha), or just in the morning, virtuous, pure (men), such as Trimadhus, who know the Vedâṅgas and the sacred texts, who are not related by marriage, nor members of the same family, nor connected through the Veda, at least three, (but always) an odd number, the (sacrificer) makes them sit down on prepared seats, covered with Darbha grass, facing the east or the north.6
7. Then he offers to them water mixed with sesamum seed, adorns them with scents and garlands (and says), 'I wish to offer oblations in the fire.'7 When he has received permission (to do so), he heaps fuel on the sacred fire, scatters Kusa grass around it, performs (all the ceremonies) up to the end of the Agnimukha, and offers three burnt oblations of food only, (reciting the following texts): 'To Soma, accompanied by the manes, Svâhâ!' 'To Yama, accompanied by the Aṅgiras and by the manes, Svâhâ!' 'To Agni, who carries the offerings to the manes, who causes sacrifices to be well performed, Svâhâ!'
8. He shall make these three oblations with food only which has been sprinkled with the remainder of the (clarified butter).8
9. Let him give a cake of food to the birds.
10. For it is declared in the Veda, 'The manes roam about in the shape of birds.'
11. Next he touches the (other food) with his hand and with the thumb,
12. (And recites the following texts): 'Fire sees thee, who art co-extensive with the earth, the Rik-verses are thy greatness, lest the gift be in vain; the earth is the vessel for thee, the sky the cover; I offer thee in the mouth of Brahman, I offer thee in the Prâna and the Apâna of learned Brâhmanas; thou art imperishable, mayest thou never fail to (the manes of our) fathers yonder, in the other world.' 'Air hears thee, who art co-extensive with the middle sphere,9 the Yagus-formulas are thy greatness, lest the gift be in vain; the earth is the vessel for thee, the sky the cover; . . . mayest thou never fail to the (manes of our) grandfathers yonder, in the other world.' 'The sun reveals thee, who art co-extensive with the sky, the Sâmans are thy greatness, lest the gift be in vain; . . . . mayest thou never fail to the (manes of our) great-grandfathers yonder, in the other world.'
Kandikâ 15
1. Now indeed (that) happens (also which the following verses teach):
2. 'Let him sprinkle that food with the remainder of the burnt oblations. But what is given without (touching it with) the thumb does not gladden the manes.'10
3. 'The malevolent Asuras seek an opportunity (to snatch away) that food intended for the manes, which is not supported with both hands.'11
4. 'The Yâtudhânas and Pisâkas, who receive no share, steal the food if sesamum grains are not scattered (on the seats of the guests), and the Asuras (take it) if (the host) is under the sway of anger.'12
5. 'If a person dressed in reddish clothes mutters prayers, offers burnt oblations, or receives gifts, the sacrificial viands, offered at sacrifices to the gods or to the manes, do not reach the deities.'13
6. 'If gifts are given or received without (touching them with) the thumb and, if one sips water standing, (the performer of the act) is not benefited thereby.'
7. At the beginning and at the end (of a Srâddha) water must be giver. (to the guests).14
8. In every case the muttering (of sacred texts) and the other (necessary acts must be performed) according to the rule.
9. The remaining (rules) have been prescribed (in the section) on the burnt oblations on Ashtakâ (days).15
10. 'He shall feed two (Brâhmanas) at the offering to the gods and three at the offering to the manes, or a single man on either occasion. Even a very wealthy man shall not be anxious (to entertain) a large company.'16
11. 'A large company destroys these five (advantages), the respectful treatment (of the invited guests, the propriety of) time and place, purity and (the selection of) virtuous Brâhmana (guests); therefore he shall not invite (a large number).'
12. 'In front (feed) the fathers of the (sacrificer), to the left the grandfathers, to the right the great-grandfathers, and at the back those who pare off (portions) from the cakes.'17
Footnotes
1. Âpastamba II, 7, 16, 1-2.
2. Âpastamba II, 7, 17, 22; Vasishtha III, 19. Govinda states that the Atharvavedins know the vow called Siras; see also Vasishtha XXVI, 12, and note.
3. Govinda says that persons acquainted with the Rahasyas or Âranyakas are preferable to those mentioned in the preceding Sûtra, and thus the order must be reversed.
4. Âpastamba II, 7, 17, 5.
5. The texts on which the Rakshoghna Sâmans are based occur Sâma-veda I, 1, 1, 3, 4--6; the Svadhâvat Yagus, Taitt. Brâhmana I, 3, 10, 2; the Madhu Rikas, Rig-veda I, 90, 6; and the three Pavitras, Taitt. Brâhmana I, q, 8, 2.
6. Âpastamba II, 7, 14, 5. All the MSS., including those of the commentary, read yonigotramantrasambandhân instead of yonigotramantrâsambandhân. But the explanation of gotrasambandhâh by asagotrâh shows still a faint trace of the former existence of the reading which I have restored conjecturally and translated. Its correctness is proved by the parallel passage of Âpastamba.
7. Vishnu LXXIII, 12--13; Manu III, 208-211. The Agnimukha is a term denoting all the preliminaries which precede the Pradhânahoma of a ceremony. The Dekhan and Gugarât MSS. read âgyasya instead of annasyaiva.
8. Clarified butter is necessary for the rites included in the Agnimukha.
9. The Mantras are addressed to the food which is to be offered.
10. Manu III, 215. See also above, II, 8, 14, 10.
11. Vasishtha XI, 25.
12. Vishnu LXXIII, x a; Manu III, 229.
13. Govinda states that the rule is intended to teach that the sacrificer and the guests at a Srâddha must be dressed in white, and that ascetics are not to be invited. But see Vasishtha XI, 17, 34.
14. Vishnu LXXIII, 12, 27, and above, II, 8, 14, 6.
15. Baudhâyana Grihya-sûtra II, 17, 18.
16. Vasishtha XI, 27-28.
17. In the beginning of the verse I read with M. and the I. O. copy of the commentary urastah pitaras tasya, and in the end with the Dekhan and Gugarât MSS. pindatakshakâh. M. reads pindatarkyâ, and the copies of the commentary pindodakâh. Both these readings are clearly corrupt, and so is the var. lect. of the Grihya-samgraha, quoted in the Petersburg Dictionary, pindatarkukâh. Pindatakshakâh, 'the cutters or parers of the cakes,' is appropriate, because the remoter ancestors, who, as Govinda too declares, are meant by the term, obtain the fragments of the funeral cakes.
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