Verse 3.145

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

यत्नेन भोजयेत्श्राद्धे बह्वृचं वेदपारगम् ।
शाखान्तगमथाध्वर्युं छन्दोगं तु समाप्तिकम् ॥ १४५ ॥

yatnena bhojayetśrāddhe bahvṛcaṃ vedapāragam |
śākhāntagamathādhvaryuṃ chandogaṃ tu samāptikam || 145 ||

With great care one should feed at a Śrāddha the adherent of the Ṛgveda who is thoroughly versed in his Veda, or the adherent of the Yajurveda who has finished the entire recensional text, or the adherent of the Sāmaveda who has reached the end of it.—(145).

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

The three terms—‘thoroughly versed in the Veda,’ ‘who has finished the entire recesional text’ and ‘who has reached the end of it’—are synonymous; everyone of them denotes persons who have learnt the whole recensional text, including the Mantra as well as the Brāhmaṇa; not those who have learnt either the Mantra-text alone or the Brāhmaṇa- text alone, or only a portion of these. The name ‘śrotriya,’ ‘learned in the Veda,’ is Applied, to even those who have learnt only a part of the Veda; hence the three terms in the present verse have been used for the purpose of excluding the mere ‘śrotriya.’ In regard to this latter, it has been said (in 128) that ‘the offering should be given to the śrotriya;’ the term ‘śrotriya’ means ‘one learned in the Veda;’ and the term ‘veda’ denotes the entire recensional text, including the Mantra and the Brāhmaṇa, as also a part of these. Consequently, for the purpose of referring to one who has learnt the entire ṛecensional text, the Text 1ms used the terms in question.

“It has been laid down above (134-135) that one shall feed only such persons as belong to one or the other stage; and until one has learnt the entire Vedic text, it is not possible for one to cuter upon the state of the Householder; as it has been asserted that ‘the entire Veda should be learnt’ (2.165).”

But even so, it would he open to one to feed the Student who has begun to learn the Veda,—even before he has finished it. Hence all the three synonymous terms—‘thoroughly versed in the Veda,’ ‘who has finished the entire recensional text,’ and ‘who has reached the end of it’—indicate that the whole Veda should have been learnt.

Though only one of these words would have sufficed for the purpose, yet the Author has made use of several forms of the same expression in view of metrical exigencies.

‘Vedapāragah,’ ‘Thoroughly versed in the Veda,’—who has gone through the entire Veda.

‘Śākhāntagaḥ’ ‘who has finished the entire recensional text’— the end of the recensional text.

‘Samāptikaḥ,’—‘who has reached the end of it.’

‘Adhvaryu,’ ‘adherent of the Yajurveda’—one who has studied the Yajurveda; this term is not used here as the name of one of the principal sacrificial priests. ‘Ādhvargava’ is the name given to the act of reciting; hence the person connected with this act is called ‘Adhvaryu.’

‘Chāndoga,’ ‘adherent of the Sāmaveda,’—one who studies the Sāmaveda.

In another Smṛti, it is the person who has learnt the ‘three thousands’ that has been called ‘samāptika;’ and the term ‘thousand’ here denotes the Sāmaveda, by reason of its being related to a thousand musical forms.; and one. whose learning consists of three of these ‘thousand’ is ‘one who has learnt the three thousands;’ the three forms being (I) the

‘Tāṇḍava’ (Texts relating to Dancing), (2) the ‘Aukthikya’ (Texts relating to the Ukthas) and (2) the ‘Sāmagāna’ (the singing of Sāmu verses); these are the three ‘sciences’ of the Sāmaveda, of which there are a thousand recensions.

The ‘Ṛgveda’ stands for the Saṃhitā text of ten Maṇḍalas divided into sixty-four adhyāyas and the Brāhmaṇa.

Others have explained this verse as excluding the adherents of the Atharva Veda from being fed. (They argue that) if the author had intended to include all the Vedas, he would have simply said—‘one should feed that Brāhmaṇa who has learnt the entire recensional text of the Veda.’

“The same argument might be urged against the verse being taken as excluding the adherent of the Atharva Veda: if this exclusion had been intended, the Author could have simply said—‘the adherent of the Atharva Veda shall not be fed.’ Such a statement would be very much simpler and a more direct way of laying down the exclusion.”

There is no force in this; as Munu’s way of teaching Dharma is diverse: sometimes he leaves the negation to be implied by means of an affirmation, and at others he puts the negation directly in its own words.—(145).

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Nirṇayasindhu (p. 284);—and in Hemādri (Śrāddha, p. 382).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Laghu-Śātātapa (99-100).—[After reproducing Manu 145, it adds the following.]—‘At the Śrāddha one shall feed the Sāmavedin; at the Vaiśvadeva offering, the Ṛgvedin; at the Pacificatory rite, the Yajurvedin; and at the Harder rites, the Atharvavedin.’

Laghvāśvalāyana (24.15).—‘At the Śrāddha, one should invite such Ṛgvedin Brāhmaṇas as are learned in the Veda; in the absence of them, those learned in the other Vedas.’