Verse 3.205

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

दैवाद्यन्तं तदीहेत पित्र्याद्यन्तं न तद् भवेत् ।
पित्र्याद्यन्तं त्वीहमानः क्षिप्रं नश्यति सान्वयः ॥ २०५ ॥

daivādyantaṃ tadīheta pitryādyantaṃ na tad bhavet |
pitryādyantaṃ tvīhamānaḥ kṣipraṃ naśyati sānvayaḥ || 205 ||

One should first engage the Brāhmaṇa in honour of the gods, as a protection to these (offerings to) Pitṛs; for the Rākṣasas take away the śrāddha that is devoid of protection.—(204)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

That in whose beginning and at whose end a rite in honour of the gods is performed is said to ‘begin and end with a rite in honour of the gods.’ The beginning of the Śrāddha rite should be made with a rite performed in honour of the gods; it is for this reason that the invitation of the Brāhmaṇas in honour of the gods should be done first. ‘End’ is completion. The meaning is that the Brāhmaṇas fed in honour of the gods.should be dismissed after those fed in honour of the Pitṛs have been sent away.

Some people hold that in the offering of sandal-paste, &c. also, beginning should be made with what is done in honour of the gods.

But, in regard to these details, it is not possible to make either the beginning or the end with what is done in honour of the gods; as this would lead to repe???on (repetition?). Further, that it should begin and end with what is done in honour of the gods has been laid down here as pertaining to the entire procedure, and not to each of the intervening details. That the performance of the details shall begin with what is done in honour of the gods would follow from the natural course of the action; it having been fixed that the inviting is to begin with those invited in honour of the gods, it would be only natural that the other details shall also start with the same with which that first step had started; since one detail controls the starting of another detail, as laid down in the assertion that—‘the starting of the details is determined by the time fixed for them in connection with the Primary Act.’

Such a Śrāddha -rite one shall ‘endeavour’ to perform.

The rest of the verse is a purely laudatory description.

‘It should never be one beginning and ending with a rite in honour of the Pitṛs’—Inasmuch as it has been already enjoined that the act should begin and end with what is done in honour of the gods, the further prohibition of beginning and ending with what is done in honour. of the Pitṛs has to be taken, in the manner of ordinary assertions, as a purely descriptive reiteration. In ordinary parlance, having laid down one thing, one often negatives its contrary, even though there be no possibility of this latter being adopted. As a matter of fact, an action controls the substance, not what is not a substance.

‘Quickly perishes, along with his progeny;’—this deprecatoy description is meant to indicate that the man fails to obtain the reward in the form of offsprings.

From this it follows that all the acts, of serving the food and the like, should begin with what is done in honour of the gods. As for what is done during the process—the serving of more rice, &c., at intervals, the supplying of water to those that may happen to want water for drinking, and so forth,—all this should be done first to one who may happen to express his desire first. If one were to offer these things to one who does not want them, simply because of his being invited in honour of the gods, then one would be trans- greasing the principal injunction that—‘one should make the Brāhmaṇas happy.’

Some one may happen to be fond of sweets, another may be one who finds adds more wholesome; so that, having provided “various edibles and fragrant drinks” (Manu, 3. 227), if, by other considerations, one were to give to one what suits his taste and constitution, the invitee would contract disease.

From all this it follows that in the feeding it is only the beginning and end that should be done with those invited in honour of the gods.—(205)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Aparārka (p. 456) as meaning that the Brāhmaṇa to be fed in honour of the Viśvedevas should be invited before that to be fed in honour of the Pitṛs; and concludes that the matter is purely optional, in view of the contrary rule laid down by Pracetas;—in Śrāddhakriyākaumudī, (p. 54);—in Gadādharapaddhati (Kāla, p. 526), which explains ‘daivādyantam’ as ‘beginning and ending with the offering to the Devas’, which means that the invitation is to be made afresh in connection with the Devakṛtya, and the concluding rites should be performed last of all for the Devas;—and in Hemādri (Śrāddha, p. 1045), which says that the other rites shall begin with the Devas, but the Visarjana is to be done last for the Devas.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Laghu-Hārīta (96).—‘If one, through ignorance, makes offerings to the Pitṛs and neglects the Gods, his Pitṛs abandon that Śrāddha as if it were something unclean.’

Devala.—‘Whatever rite is performed in honour of Pitṛs should be preceded by the offering to the Viśvedevas.’