Verse 3.124

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

तत्र ये भोजनीयाः स्युर्ये च वर्ज्या द्विजोत्तमाः ।
यावन्तश्चैव यैश्चान्नैस्तान् प्रवक्ष्याम्यशेषतः ॥ १२४ ॥

tatra ye bhojanīyāḥ syurye ca varjyā dvijottamāḥ |
yāvantaścaiva yaiścānnaistān pravakṣyāmyaśeṣataḥ || 124 ||

I am now going to describe fully which and how many Brāhmaṇas should be fed at it, and on what food,—as also those that should be avoided.—(124)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

‘At it’—at the śrāddha;—those Brāhmaṇas that should be fed,—as also those that should be avoided;—‘how many’—what number; as is going to be pointed out that ‘two should be fed at the offering to the gods, and so forth’ (125);—‘on what food,’—‘on sesamum, barley, etc.’ (267) all this ‘I am now going to describe’— listen-to it.

This (feeding of Brāhmaṇas) is the chief thing to be accomplished; for without this the śrāddha is as good as not done. As for the subsidiary factors,—those that help in the performance directly, as well as those that help indirectly,—even if these are not duly accomplished, the śrāddha is done,—only it is not quite complete in its details. Hence it is that the subjects have been propounded again, for the purpose of indicating their predominant character.—(124.)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

Medhātithi (p. 241, l. 25)—‘Yaccāṅgajātam etc.’—The Mīmāṃsakas, specially those belonging to the ‘Prābhākara’ school, classify ‘subsidiaries to an act’ under four heads:—(1) class-character, (2) quality, (3) substance, and (4) such things as are denoted by verbs, i.e., actions. The last of these is grouped under two heads—(1) Those directly helpful, called Sannipatyopakāraka, and (2) those indirectly helpful, called ‘Ārādupakāraka’. That which produces its direct effects in certain things conducive to the fulfilment of the sacrificial act, is its Sannipatyopakāraka; e.g., the sitting of the sacrifìcer, the threshing of the corn and so forth. The Sannipatyopakāraka is of four kinds—(1) that which brings into existence a certain substance; i.e., the kneading of the flour, which brings into existence the dough;—(2) that which leads to the acquisition of a certain substance; e.g., the act of milking the cow;—(3) that which produces some change in an already existing substance; e.g., the boiling of clarified butter;—(4) that which is purely purificatory, e.g., the sprinkling of water over the corn. The subsidiaries that belong to this class do not produce any transcendental result—

Apūrva—of their own; they are related to the result produced by the sacrificial act to which they are subsidiary......... The

Ārāpudakāraka—or indirectly helpful subsidiaries—are of two kinds—(1) those that fulfil only a transcendental purpose and do not produce any visible effects in any material substance; e.g., the small offerings made during the Darśapūrṇamāsa, such as the Samid-yāga and the rest;—and (2) those that produce both transcendental and visible effects; e.g., the Payovrata, the act of the Sacrificer and his wife living, during the performance of the Jyotiṣṭoma, purely on milk. These latter, from their very nature, are such acts as have their own minor resultant Apūrvas, which go to help in the fulfilment of the Apūrva of the main sacrificial act itself. [For a discussion on this subject, the reader is referred to the Prābhakara School of Pūrva Mīmāṃsā, pp. 180-185.]

This verse is quoted in Hemādri (Śrāddha, p. 377).