Verse 3.28

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

यज्ञे तु वितते सम्यग् ऋत्विजे कर्म कुर्वते ।
अलङ्कृत्य सुतादानं दैवं धर्मं प्रचक्षते ॥ २८ ॥

yajñe tu vitate samyag ṛtvije karma kurvate |
alaṅkṛtya sutādānaṃ daivaṃ dharmaṃ pracakṣate || 28 ||

While a sacrifice is being performed, if one gives away his daughter, after having decked her, to the priest who is officiating at it,—this they call the “Daiva” form.—(28).

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

‘Being performed;’—i.e., when a sacrifice, such as the Jyotiṣṭoma and the like, has been commenced; if one gives away his daughter to the ‘priest’—the Adhvaryu—‘who is officiating’—working—‘at it;’—‘after having decked her;’—this is a mere re-iteration; this forming an essential condition in every form of giving one’s girl in marriage; that ‘one should give the girl in marriage after having decked her’ being a general injunction.

“The cow, the house, the mule and other things have been mentioned as the fee for priests, the giving of the daughter has not been found laid down anywhere as helping in the fulfilment of sacrificial performances.”

What has ‘helping in the fulfilment of sacrificial performances’ got to do with the subject under consideration? All that is meant is that, when a sacrifice has begun to be performed, if one gives his daughter to the priest, this constitutes the ‘Daiva’ form of marriage.

In this case, there is some slight return made by the bridegroom in the form of services rendered in connection with the sacrifice. Even though the daughter is not given in consideration of any sacrificial services rendered, yet when she is given to him while he is engaged in a certain act, it does give rise to the inference (that she has been given as a reward for those services). And it is in view of this fact that the ‘Daiva’ form has been regarded as inferior to the ‘Brāhma’ form (in which latter, there is not the slightest suspicion of any kind of return).—(28).

 

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

Hopkins is not quite right when he says that ‘the priest receives the maiden as part of the fee.’ It is not so, as has been made clear by Medhātithi. Further the ‘fee’ is always given after the completion of the rite, and not only when ‘it has begun’, or while the priest is still ‘doing his work.’

This verse is quoted in Vīramitrodaya (Saṃskāra, p. 849), where the explanation is added—Samyak sauṣṭhavena karma kurvate ṛtvije ityanvayaḥ; the construction is that the girl is given ‘to the priest who is doing the work efficiently, in a proper manner’;—in Hemādri (Dāna, p. 684);—and in Smṛticandrikā (Saṃskāra, p. 228.).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Gautama (4. 4).—‘The Daiva consists in giving the girl to the Priest within the sacrificial altar.’

Baudhāyana (1. 11. 5).—‘At the time that the sacrificial fees are being given, if the girl is given to the Priest within the sacrificial altar,—this the Daiva.’

Āpastamba Dharmasūtra (2. 11. 19).—‘In the Daiva form, the girl is to be given to the Priest, in course of the sacrificial performance.’

Vaśiṣṭha (1. 31).—‘In course of a sacrificial performance, if one gives his girl, after having decked her, to the Priest carrying on his sacrificial duties,—this they call the Daiva marriage.’

Viṣṇu (24.20).—‘The Daiva is that offered to the Priest engaged in a sacrifice.’

Āpastamba-Gṛhyasūtra (1.6.2).—‘When a sacrifice is being performed, if one gives the girl duly decked to the Priest therein engaged, this is called the Daiva marriage; the son bora thereof purifies ten past and ten future generations on both sides.’

Devala (Vīramitrodaya-Saṃskāra, p. 849).—‘When one brings into the sacrificial altar the girl decked in gold and gives her to the Priest, this is the marriage called Daiva.’

Yama (Vīramitrodaya-Saṃskāra, 849).—‘The marriage of the Priest is called Daiva.’

Hārīta (Vīramitrodaya-Saṃskāra, 849).—‘When the girl is given within the altar, to the bridegroom after having presented to him a pair (of cow and bull), this is the Daiva marriage.’