Verse 3.91

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

पृष्ठवास्तुनि कुर्वीत बलिं सर्वात्मभूतये ।
पितृभ्यो बलिशेषं तु सर्वं दक्षिणतो हरेत् ॥ ९१ ॥

pṛṣṭhavāstuni kurvīta baliṃ sarvātmabhūtaye |
pitṛbhyo baliśeṣaṃ tu sarvaṃ dakṣiṇato haret || 91 ||

These offerings one should make in the upper dwelling, for the purpose of acquiring all kinds of food. The entire remnant of the offerings he should offer towards the South, to the pitṛs.—(91)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

What is said here is supplementary to the two offerings spoken of in the latter half of the foregoing verse; and the first, half of this verse prescribes the receptacle for those two offerings.

The dwelling on the top of another dwelling is called the ‘upper dwelling.’ In the case of a single-storied house, it means the roof. There one should make the offering to the ‘roamers at night’ and ‘roamers during the day.’

‘Sarvānnabhūtaye’—‘for the purpose of acquiring all kinds of food’;—the Dative ending has the sense of ‘for the purpose of,’ ‘with a view to,’ and not that of ‘recipient;’ for no oblations have been laid down as to be offered to any such deity as Sarvānnabhūti; specially, as the term ‘offering’ in the present verse is supplementary to the preceding verse, and the offerings prescribed in the preceding verse require the mention of a receptacle for them. Even in other Smṛtis no such deity as ‘Sarvānnabhūti’ has been mentioned in connection with the ‘Vaiśvadeva’ offerings. Hence, what the word means is that ‘the act is to be done for the purpose o f acquiring all kinds of food;’ i.e., ‘when this offering is made, all kinds of food are obtained.’ And when the etymological signification of a word is found compatible with the context, there can be no justification for assuming a signification for the word as a whole (irrespectively of its etymology.) So that, if the word (‘Sarvānnabhūti’) were to be taken as signifying a deity, an absolutely unknown denotation will have to be attributed to it.

‘The remnant of the offerings;’—tbe use of the term ‘remnant’ implies that the offering material has to be collected in a vessel and then offered, and that the oblations are not to be taken out of what is contained in the cooking pot.

‘Towards the South’—i.e., in the southerly direction; i.e., the man should face the south.

‘Entire’—i.e., all that has been taken out in the vessel.—(91)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

‘Pṛṣṭhavāstuni’—‘On the upper storey, or on the roof of the house’ (Medhātithi);—‘behind the house’ (Govindarāja and Nārāyaṇa);—‘outside the house’ (Nandana);—‘behind the offerer’s back’ (Kullūka).

‘Sarvānnahhūtaye’—‘The same deity occurs in Śāṅkhāyana, Gṛhyasūtra, 2.14, where Professor Oldenberg has Sarvannabhūti, while the Petersburg Dictionary gives Sarvānubhūti”—Buhler.

Medhātithi denies that there is any such ‘deity’ and he is averse to assuming any such unheard of deity, when the literal meaning of the term is not incompatible with the text,—‘for the acquiring of all kinds of food.’ Kullūka, however, who reads ‘Sarvātmabhūtaye’ takes it as the name of a deity.

This verse is quoted in Vīramitrodaya (Āhnika, p. 403), where the following explanations are added:—Pṛṣṭhavāstuni’ means ‘behind the house, in the place where the urinal is situated’;—‘Sarvānubhūti’ is a deity of that name;—‘haret’ means ‘should offer’.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 3.84-93)

See Comparative notes for Verse 3.84.