Verse 3.211

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

अग्नेः सोमयमाभ्यां च कृत्वाऽप्यायनमादितः ।
हविर्दानेन विधिवत् पश्चात् सन्तर्पयेत् पितॄन् ॥ २११ ॥

agneḥ somayamābhyāṃ ca kṛtvā'pyāyanamāditaḥ |
havirdānena vidhivat paścāt santarpayet pitṝn || 211 ||

Having at fir st brought about the satisfaction of Agni and Soma-Yama by the offering of sacrificial food, he should afterwards satisfy, according to rule, the Pitṛs.—(211).

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

It is now described what is to be done in the Fire.

The Genitive in ‘agneḥ’ has the sense of the Dative;

Agni is one deity, and Soma-Yama conjointly form one conjunct deity; just like Agni-Soma.

Of these two deities, ‘having brought about at first, the satisfaction, by the offering of sacrificial food, he should afterwards satisfy the Pitṛs.’ That is, he should offer balls of food and feed the Brāhmaṇas.

In the Gṛhyasūtra, other deities have been prescribed; so that the deities mentioned in the present text are for those who have no Gṛhyasūtra of their own.

‘Satisfaction’ stands for sustenance. That gods are sustained by sacrificial food, is a laudatory exaggertion.—(211).

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Hemādri (Śrāddha, p. 1353), which adds the following notes:—The meaning is that ‘after having made offerings to (1) Agni, (2) Soma and (3) Yama, one should satisfy the Fathers who are present in the person of the invited Brāhmaṇas’;—according to the explanation given by Medhātithi and Harihara, we have only two deities here—(1) Agni and (2) the joint deity Soma-Yama; and the genitive ending in ‘agneḥ’ has the sense of the Dative, and this conjoint deity is to be accepted only by those in whose Gṛhya such a joint deity is mentioned. Our view is that the two, Soma and Yama, are to be treated separately, not jointly, as is clear from the reading ‘agnisomayamānāñca’ adopted by some Nibandhas.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Baudhāyana (2.8.7).—(See under 209.)

Āśvalāyana Gṛhyasūtra (4.8.4).—‘Then he pours the oblation into fire, as declared before.’