Verse 3.247

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

आसपिण्डक्रियाकर्म द्विजातेः संस्थितस्य तु ।
अदैवं भोजयेत्श्राद्धं पिण्डमेकं च निर्वपेत् ॥ २४७ ॥

āsapiṇḍakriyākarma dvijāteḥ saṃsthitasya tu |
adaivaṃ bhojayetśrāddhaṃ piṇḍamekaṃ ca nirvapet || 247 ||

For the twice-born person just dead, there should be (performed) the rite up to the ‘Sapiṇḍīkaraṇa’: one should do the feeding at his Śrāddha without any in honour of the gods, and he shall offer one ball.—(247)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

‘For the twice-born person, just dead’— one should perform the rite up to ‘Sapiṇḍīkaraṇa;’ i.e., the offering of balls conjointly with the two preceding ancestors, which constitutes the Sapiṇḍīkaraṇa, the ‘Amalgamating Rite,’ shall not be made once—what, then, shall be offered?—‘He should offer one ball;’ the particle ‘ca’ having the sense of ‘only;’ the sense is that ‘one ball shall be offered, only to the person just dead.’ The Brāhmaṇa also shall be fed in honour of that person only.

In another Smṛti, there is declared another specific procedure—‘It shall be without invitation and doing in fire’ (Yājñavalkya, ācāra 251); where ‘doing in fire’ stands for the seeking of permission with the words, ‘I shall do this in fire;’ and the pouring of libations into fire is not prohibited. In the Gṛhyasūtra, libations into fire have been laid down in connection with the Śrāddha offered to the recent dead.

At what time and how long is the rite to be performed—information on these points should be sought for from another Smṛti; where it is said that—(A) ‘The first Śrāddha is on the eleventh day,’—(B) ‘on the date of death, for one year, the Śrāddha should be done every month, and every year it shall be performed, like the monthly performance,’—and in the Kathaka it is said, ‘This should be done every year.’

(A) The term ‘eleventh’ is only indicative of the day on which the period of impurity ceases; since it has been declared that ‘having become pure, one should make offerings to the Pitṛs.’

(B) The author of Gṛhyasūtras declares that the ‘Sapiṇḍīkaraṇa’ shall be performed at the end of the year.

The Śrāddha mentioned in the text is called ‘Ekoddiṣṭa’ (‘offered to one person’); and the ‘offering’ (of the ball) is part of it.

It has been held that, on account of the declaration of the Śruti‘ one should make offerings to the Pitṛs’ (quoted above),—the offering should be made to the Father, Grand-father and Great-grandfather. But it cannot be right to make this offering (to all three) until the ‘Sapiṇḍīkaraṇa’ has been performed. Because the Smṛti (regarding the Sapiṇḍīkaraṇa) cannot be entirely set aside by the said Vedic declaration.—(247)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse, as quoted by Medhātithi on p. 290, l. 1, reads ‘Asapiṇḍa’.—But the same sense may be got out of the reading ‘Āsapiṇḍa’.—See Translation.

“The Sapiṇḍīkaraṇa, the solemn reception of a dead person among the partakers of oblations, is performed either on the thirteenth day, or a year after death,”—says Buhler. But the rite is performed on the twelfth, not the thirteenth day.

Hopkins has misunderstood the signification of the Sapiṇḍīkaraṇa rite. He calls it ‘ceremony on making a Sapiṇḍa (relative) for him’ and adds that ‘it implies that the deceased died without any family to offer the Śrāddha for him.’

As a matter of fact, this rite is performed for every one; and its meaning is as explained by Buhler (see above).

The second half of this verse is quoted in Smṛtitattva (p. 802) in support of the view that the ‘Śrāddha’ and ‘offering of the Ball’ are two distinct acts.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Paiṭhīnasi.—‘Before the performance of the Sapīṇḍīkaraṇa one should perform the sixteen Śrāddhas; and all these should be performed by the unitary process.’