Verse 3.138

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

न श्राद्धे भोजयेन् मित्रं धनैः कार्योऽस्य सङ्ग्रहः ।
नारिं न मित्रं यं विद्यात् तं श्राद्धे भोजयेद् द्विजम् ॥ १३८ ॥

na śrāddhe bhojayen mitraṃ dhanaiḥ kāryo'sya saṅgrahaḥ |
nāriṃ na mitraṃ yaṃ vidyāt taṃ śrāddhe bhojayed dvijam || 138 ||

At a Śrāddha one should not feed a friend; his acquisition shall be made by means of riches. At a Śrāddha one should feed him whom he regards neither as friend nor as foe.—(138)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

Even when endowed with the aforesaid qualifications of ‘Vedic learning’ and the rest, the man shall not be fed on account of his being a friend; this is the prohibition contained in this verse.

‘A friend’—one whose happiness and unhappiness are the same as one’s own, and who is in no way different from himself,—‘one should not feed at a Śrāddha.’

‘By means of riches’— by means of other kinds of gifts—‘the acquisition’ of the friend should be made; his friendship obtained; or the benefit of ‘friendship’ may consist in non-separation.

It is not only the friend that one shall not feed; the enemy also should not be fed. ‘Him whom he regards neither as friend nor as foe,’— towards whom one eutertains feelings of neither affection, nor aversion: in regard to whom there could be no suspicion of any relationship due to affection or any other motive; the mention of the ‘friend or foe’ being only illustrative. It is on account of the suspicion of such relationship that the maternal grandfather and others have been mentioned (in 147, 148 below) as secondary alternatives.

“There is possibility of the enemy being fed only where one wishes make a friend of him; hence he also being included under ‘friend’ (should not have been mentioned separately).”

The separate mention is expected to make the matter dearer.—(138)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Madanapārijāta (p. 559);—in Aparārka (p. 448);—in Hemādri (Śrāddha, p. 401);—and in Śrāddhakriyākaumudī (p. 41), which explains ‘dhanaiḥ’ as ‘by presents of other kinds,’ and ‘saṅgraha’ as ‘affection.’

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Gautama (15).—‘He should not behave towards him as towards a friend.’

Āpastamba-Dharmasūtra (17.4).—‘He shall feed such Brāhmaṇas... as are not related to him either through otra or through marriage or through Vedic learning or through discipleship.’

Baudhāyana (2.8.6).—‘Such as are not related to him through the Veda.’

Vaśiṣṭha. (11.14).—‘During the darker fortnight, after the fourth day, he shall make offerings to the Pitṛs; having, on the previous day, got together such Brāhmaṇas as are renunciates or hermits or are old, not engaged in any improper profession, learned in the Veda,—but who are not his own pupils or disciples. But he shall feed even his disciples, if they are endowed with exceptional qualities.’

Mahābhārata (Anuśāsana, 137.44).—‘One who has offered the Śrāddha shall not receive a friend; for the purpose of making friends he shall make presents of riches; in connection with the offerings to gods and Pitṛs, he shall feed one who is neutral, whom he regards neither as a friend nor as a foe.’

Kaśyapa (Aparārka, p. 448).—‘Enemies...... should not be invited at Śrāddha.’