Verse 3.139

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

यस्य मित्रप्रधानानि श्राद्धानि च हवींषि च ।
तस्य प्रेत्य फलं नास्ति श्राद्धेषु च हविःषु च ॥ १३९ ॥

yasya mitrapradhānāni śrāddhāni ca havīṃṣi ca |
tasya pretya phalaṃ nāsti śrāddheṣu ca haviḥṣu ca || 139 ||

He at whose Śrāddhas and sacrifices, the friend forms the principal factor,—for him, after death, there is no reward, either for Śrāddhas or for sacrifices.—(139)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

This verse supplies the commendatory supplement to the foregoing prohibition.

The term ‘friend’ is used here in the abstract sense; hence the meaning is ‘in which friendship enters as the prime consideration.’ And this includes both friend and foe.

The term ‘sacrifice’ stands for (1) gifts given with reference to gods and (2) the feeding of Brāhmaṇas with a view to some transcendental result.

‘Pretya phalam nāsti’ (‘after death there is no reward’)—

“No construction is possible of this clause; since the nominative of the root ‘pra + iṇ’ (of the act of dying denoted by the word ‘pretya’) is the person performing the śrāddha, whereas of the verb ‘na + asti’ (‘is not’) the nominative is ‘phala,’ ‘reward’ [and as a rule, the nominative of the participle ‘pretya’ and the finite verb ‘nāsti’ should be one and the same].”

In answer to this, some people explain that the term ‘pretya’ is an independent word, an indeclinable noun, denoting the other world [and is not a participle at all]. Another explanation is that of the root pra + in also ‘reward’ is the nominative; the meaning of the participle in this case being ‘even though arriving near,’ ‘it does not come about,’—i.e., it fails to be enjoyed.—(139)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Śrāddkakriyākaumudī (p. 41).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 3.139-140)

Āpastamba-Dharmasūtra (2.8).—‘Offerings given to friends and relations reach neither the gods nor the Pitṛs.’ Mahābhārata (Anuśāsana, 90.42-43).—‘If at one’s offerings to gods and Pitṛs, his friends happen to form the predominant factor, then neither the gods nor the Pitṛs are satisfied; and he goes not to heaven. If one makes friends at the Śrāddha, he goes not by the path of the gods; collecting his friends at Śrāddha, ho falls off from heaven.’