Vasistha Dharmasutra

by Georg Bühler | 1882 | 44,713 words

The Dharmasutra of Vasistha forms an independent treatise and has no relationship with the Kalpasutra. The chapters of this text are divided in a way that resemble the practice of later Smritis. This Dharmasutra has a unique characteristic, it cites the opinions of Manu at many places. This led scholars like Bühler among others to form a hypothesis...

1. Six persons are (particularly) worthy to receive the honey-mixture (madhuparka),[1]

2. (Viz.) an officiating priest, the bridegroom of one's daughter, a king, a paternal uncle, a Snātaka, a maternal uncle, as well as (others enumerated elsewhere).

3. (A householder) shall offer, both at the morning and the evening (meals, a portion) of the prepared (food) to the Viśve Devas in the (sacred) domestic fire.[2]

4. Let him give a Bali-offering to the (guardian) deities of the house,[3]

5. (Thereafter) let him give a portion, one Pala in weight, to a Śrotriya or to a student, (and afterwards an offering) to the manes.[4]

6. Next let him feed his guests in due order, the worthiest first,[5]

7. (Thereafter) the maidens, the infants, the aged, the half-grown members of his family, and pradātās,[6]

8. Then the other members of his family.[7]

9. (Outside the house) he shall throw (some food) on the ground for the dogs, Kāṇḍālas, outcasts, and crows.[8]

10. He may give to a Śūdra either the fragments (of the meal) or (a portion of) fresh (food).[9]

11. The master of the house and his wife may eat what remains.[10]

12. A fresh meal for which all (the same materials as for the first) are used (may be prepared), if a guest comes after the Vaiśvadeva has been offered. For such a (guest) he shall cause to be prepared food (of a) particularly (good quality).[11]

13. For it has been declared in the Veda, 'A Brāhmaṇa guest enters the house resembling the Vaiśvānara fire. Through., him they obtain rain, and food through rain. Therefore people know that the (hospitable reception of a guest) is a ceremony averting evil.'

14. Having fed the (guest), he shall honour him.[12]

15. He shall accompany him to the boundary (of the village) or until he receives permission (to return).

16. Let him present (funeral offerings) to the manes during the dark half of the month (on any day) after the fourth.[13]

17. After issuing an invitation on the day preceding (the Śrāddha, he shall feed on that occasion) three ascetics or three virtuous householders, who are Śrotriyas, who are not very aged, who do not follow forbidden occupations, and neither (have been his) pupils, nor are (living as) pupils in his house.[14]

18. He may also feed pupils who are endowed with good qualities.[15]

19. Let him avoid men neglecting their duties,[16] those afflicted with white leprosy, eunuchs, blind men, those who have black teeth, those who suffer from black leprosy, (and) those who have deformed nails.

20. Now they quote also (the following verses): 'Now, if a (Brāhmaṇa) versed in the Vedas is afflicted with bodily (defects) which exclude him from the company, Yama declares him to be irreproachable. Such (a man) sanctifies the company.'[17]

21. 'At a funeral sacrifice the fragments (of the meal) must not be swept away until the end of the day. For streams of nectar flow (from them, and the manes of) those who have received no libations of water drink (them).'[18]

22. 'But let him not sweep up the fragments (of the meal) before the sun has set. Thence issue rich streams of milk for those who obtain a share with difficulty.'[19]

23. 'Manu declares that both the remainder (in the vessels) and the fragments (of the meal) certainly are the portion of those members of the family who died before receiving the sacraments.'[20]

24. 'Let him give the fragments that have fallen on the ground and the portion scattered (on the blades of Kuśa grass), which consists of the wipings and water, as their food, to the manes of those who died without offspring and of those who died young.'

25. 'The malevolent Asuras seek an opportunity (to snatch away) that food intended for the manes, which is not supported with both hands;'[21]

26. 'Therefore let him not offer it (to the Brāhmaṇas) without holding (a spoon) in his hand; or let him stand, holding the dish (with both hands, until) leavings of both kinds (have been produced).'[22]

27. 'He shall feed two (Brāhmaṇas) at the offering to the gods, and three at the offering to the manes, or a single man on either occasion; even a very wealthy man shall not be anxious (to entertain) a large company.'[23]

28. 'A large company destroys these five (advantages), the respectful treatment (of the invited guests, the propriety of) time and place, purity and (the selection of) virtuous Brāhmaṇa (guests); therefore he shall not (invite a large number).'[24]

29. 'Or he may entertain (at a Śrāddha) even a single Brāhmaṇa who has studied the whole Veda, who is distinguished by learning and virtue, and is free from all evil marks (on his body).'[25]

30. '(But) how can the oblation to the gods be made if he feeds a single Brāhmaṇa at a funeral sacrifice? Let him take (a portion) of each (kind of) food that has been prepared (and put it) into a vessel;'

31. 'Let him place it in the sanctuary of a god and afterwards continue (the performance of) the funeral sacrifice. Let him offer that food in the fire or give it (as alms) to a student.'

32. 'As long as the food continues warm, as long as they eat in silence, as long as the qualities of the food are not declared (by them), so long the manes feast on it.'[26]

33. 'The qualities of the food must not be declared as long as the (Brāhmaṇas who represent the) manes are not satiated. Afterwards when they are satisfied, they may say, "Beautiful is the sacrificial food."'

34. 'But an ascetic who, invited to dine at a sacrifice of the manes or of the gods, rejects meat, shall go to hell for as many years as the slaughtered beast has hairs.'[27]

35. 'Three (things are held to) sanctify a funeral sacrifice, a daughter's son, the midday, and sesamum grains; and they recommend three (other things) for it, purity, freedom from anger and from precipitation.'[28]

36. 'The eighth division of the day, during which the sun's (progress in the heavens) becomes slow, one must know to be midday; what is (then) given to the manes lasts (them) for a very long time.'

37. 'The ancestors of that man who has intercourse[29] with a woman after offering or having dined at a Śrāddha, feed during a month from that (day) on his semen.'

38. 'A child that is born from (intercourse immediately) after offering a Śrāddha or partaking of a funeral repast, is unable to acquire sacred learning and becomes short-lived.'

39. 'The father and the grandfather, likewise the great-grandfather, beset a descendant who is born to them, just as birds (fly to) a rig tree;'[30]

40. '(Saying), "He will offer to us funeral repasts with honey and meat, with vegetables, with milk and with messes made of milk, both in the rainy season and under the constellation Maghāḥ."

41. 'The ancestors always rejoice at a descendant who lengthens the line, who is zealous in performing funeral sacrifices, and who is rich in (images of the) gods and (virtuous) Brāhmaṇa (guests).'[31]

42. 'The manes consider him to be their (true) descendant who offers (to them) food at Gayā, and (by the virtue of that gift) they grant him (blessings), just as husbandmen (produce grain) on well-ploughed (fields).'[32]

43. He shall offer (a Śrāddha) both on the full moon days of the months Śrāvaṇa and Āgrahāyaṇa and on the Anvaṣṭakī.[33]

44. There is no restriction as to time, if (particularly suitable) materials and (particularly holy) Brāhmaṇas are at hand, or (if the sacrificer is) near (a particularly sacred) place.[34]

45. A Brāhmaṇa must necessarily kindle the three sacred fires.[35]

46. He shall offer (in them) the full and new moon sacrifices, the (half-yearly) Āgraya.a Iṣṭi, the Cāturmāsya-sacrifice, the (half-yearly) sacrifices at which animals are slain, and the (annual) Soma-sacrifices.[36]

47. For all this is (particularly) enjoined (in the Veda), and called by way of laudation 'a debt.'[37]

48. For it is declared in the Veda, 'A Brāhmaṇa is born, loaded with three debts,' (and further, 'He owes) sacrifices to the gods, a son to the manes, the study of the Veda to the Ṛṣis; therefore he is free from debt who has offered sacrifices, who has begotten a son, and who has lived as a student (with a teacher).'[38]

49. Let him (ordinarily) initiate a Brāhmaṇa in the eighth (year) after conception,[39]

50. A Kṣatriya in the eleventh year after conception,

51. A Vaiśya in the twelfth year after conception.

52. The staff of a Brāhmaṇa (student may) optionally (be made) of Palāśa wood,[40]

53. (That) of a Kṣatriya optionally of the wood of the Banyan tree,

54. (That) of a Vaiśya optionally of Udumbara wood.

55. (The staff) of a Brāhmaṇa shall (be of such a length as to) reach the hair,[41]

56. (That) of a Kṣatriya the forehead,

57. (That) of a Vaiśya the (tip of the) nose.

58. The girdle of a Brāhmaṇa shall be made of Muñja grass,[42]

59. A bowstring (shall be that) of a Kṣatriya,

60. (That) of a Vaiśya shall be made of hempen threads.

61. The upper garment of a Brāhmaṇa (shall be) the skin of a black antelope,[43]

62. (That) of a Kṣatriya the skin of a spotted deer,

63. (That) of a Vaiśya a cow-skin or the hide of a he-goat.

64. The (lower) garment of a Brāhmaṇa (shall be) white (and) unblemished,[44]

65. (That) of a Kṣatriya dyed with madder,

66. (That) of a Vaiśya dyed with turmeric, or made of (raw) silk;

67. Or (a dress made of) undyed (cotton) cloth may be worn by (students of) all (castes).

68. A Brāhmaṇa shall ask for alms placing (the word) 'Lady' first,[45]

69. A Kṣatriya placing (the word)' Lady' in the middle,

70. A Vaiśya placing (the word) Lady' at the end (of the formula).

71. The time (for the initiation) of a Brāhmaṇa has not passed until the completion of the sixteenth year,[46]

72. (For that) of a Kṣatriya until the completion of the twenty-second,

73. (For that) of a Vaiśya until the completion of the twenty-fourth.

74. After that they become 'men whose Sāvitrī has been neglected.'[47]

75. Let him not initiate such men, nor teach them, nor sacrifice for them; let them not form matrimonial alliances (with such outcasts).[48]

76. A man whose Sāvitrī has not been performed, may undergo the Uddālaka-penance.

77. Let him subsist during two months on barley-gruel, during one month on milk, during half a month on curds of two-milk whey, during eight days on clarified butter, during six days on alms given without asking, (and) during three days on water, and let him fast for one day and one night.

78. (Or) he may go to bathe (with the priests) at the end of an Aśvamedha (horse-sacrifice).[49]

79. Or he may offer a Vrātya-stoma.[50]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

-2. XI. Gautama V, 27-30. The persons enumerated elsewhere are the teacher, the father-in-law, and so forth. Regarding the Snātaka, see Āpastamba I, 11, 30, 1-4.

[2]:

Viṣṇu LXVII, 1-3.

[3]:

Viṣṇu LXVII, 4-22.

[4]:

Viṣṇu LIX, 14; LXVII, 23, 27. Kṛṣṇapaṇḍita does not take 'agrabhāga' as a technical term, but explains it by 'a first portion, sufficient for a dinner, or as much as one is able to spare.'

[5]:

Viṣṇu LXVII, 28, 36-38.

[6]:

Viṣṇu LXVII, 39. The majority of the MSS. read bālavṛddhataruṇapradātās [tato]. Kṛṣṇapaṇḍita corrects the last word to pradātā, while the editor of the Calcutta edition writes prabhritīṃs [tato]. Both conjectures are inadmissible. As the same phrase occurs once more, below, XIX., 23 (where Kṛṣṇapaṇḍita writes pradātāraḥ), I think that it is not permissible to change the text. Pradātāḥ must be the correct reading, and a technical name for a class of female relatives. Etymologically it may mean 'those who have been perfectly cleansed.' But I am unable to trace its precise technical import, and have left it untranslated.

[7]:

Viṣṇu LXVII, 41.

[8]:

Viṣṇu LXVII, 26.

[9]:

Gautama V, 25, and note. 'A Śūdra, i.e. one who is his servant.'--Kṛṣṇapaṇḍita. It is, however, possible, that a visitor of the Śūdra caste is meant; see Āpastamba II, 2, 4, 19-20.

[10]:

Viṣṇu LXVII, 41.

[11]:

Āpastamba II, 3, 6, 16; Gautama V, 32, 33. A guest, i.e. one to whom the definition given above, VIII, 6, 7, applies. I read according to my MSS. punaḥpāko instead of punaḥpāke.

[12]:

-15. Gautama V, 38.

[13]:

Viṣṇu LXXVI, 1-2; Gautama XV, 3.

[14]:

Viṣṇu LXXIII, 1; LXXXII, 2-4; LXXXIII, 5, 19; Gautama XV, 10; Āpastamba II, 7, 17, 4.

[15]:

Āpastamba II, 7, 17, 6.

[16]:

Gautama XV, 16, 18. The explanation of the word nagna, p. 52 'neglecting their duties,' is doubtful. I have followed Kṛṣṇapaṇḍita, who quotes the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa in support of his view. The word occurs in the same connexion, Viṣṇu LXXXII, 27, where it is rendered by 'naked.' Possibly it may refer to ascetics who go entirely naked.

[17]:

The Sūtra gives an exception to the preceding rule.

[18]:

I read 'ścyotante hi' instead of 'ścyotante val.'

[19]:

'Those who receive a share with difficulty,' i.e. the manes of uninitiated children, mentioned in the next verses.

[20]:

-24. Viṣṇu LXXXII, 22 Manu III, 245-246. These rules, however, do not fully agree with the teaching of our Manu-smṛti, as the latter assigns the fragments on the ground to honest and upright servants. Sūtra 24 I read with the majority of the MSS. 'lepanodakam' for 'lepamodakam,' and 'annaṃ preteshu' for 'anupreteshu.'

[21]:

Manu III, 225.

[22]:

Manu III, 224. The meaning of the last clause seems to be that the sacrificer shall stand before the Brāhmaṇas until they have done eating.

[23]:

Identical with Manu III, 125; see also Viṣṇu LXXIII, 3. The offering to the gods is the Vaiśvadeva offering which precedes the Śrāddha.

[24]:

Identical with Manu III, 126.

[25]:

Manu III, 129.

[26]:

Identical with Viṣṇu LXXXII, 20, and Manu III, 237.

[27]:

Manu V, 35.

[28]:

Identical with Manu III, 235.

[29]:

Viṣṇu LXIX, 2-4.

[30]:

-40. Viṣṇu LXXVIII, 51-53.

[31]:

'Who lengthens the line,' i.e. who himself begets sons. Read instead of nuyantaṃ pitṛkarmaṇi (v. l. muyantaṃ and tṛpantaḥ), 'udyataṃ.'

[32]:

Viṣṇu LXXXV, 4, 66-67. A

[33]:

Śrāvaṇa, i.e. July-August; Āgrahāyaṇa, i.e. Mārgaśīrṣa or November--December. Anvaṣṭakī means the day following the Aṣṭakā, or eighth day, i.e. the ninth day of the dark halves of Mārgaśīrṣa, Pauṣa, Māgha, and Phālguṇa. The form of the word is usually anvaṣṭakā.

[34]:

Gautama XV, 5.

[35]:

Viṣṇu LIX, 2.

[36]:

Viṣṇu LIX, 4-9.

[37]:

Manu IV, 257. I read ṛṇasaṃstutaṃ with MS. E.

[38]:

Taitt. Saṃh. VI, 3, 10, 5; Śatapatha-brāhmaṇa I, 7, 2, 11.

[39]:

-51. Viṣṇu XXVII, 15-17.

[40]:

-54. Viṣṇu XXVII, 29. Regarding other kinds of sticks, see Gautama I, 22-24.

[41]:

-57. Viṣṇu XXVII, 22.

[42]:

-60. Viṣṇu XXVII, 18.

[43]:

-63. Viṣṇu XXVII, 20.

[44]:

-67. Viṣṇu XXVII, 19; Gautama I, 17-21. 'Unblemished,' i.e. new, without holes and seams.

[45]:

-70. Viṣṇu XXVII, 25. I.e. 'Lady, give alms;' 'Give, O lady, alms;' and 'Give alms, lady.'

[46]:

-73. Viṣṇu XXVII, 26.

[47]:

Viṣṇu XXVII, 27. Sāvitrī, literally 'the Ṛc sacred to Savitṛ' (Rig-veda III, 62, 10), means here 'the initiation,' see Gautama I, 12 note.

[48]:

Āpastamba I, 1, 1, 28. The plural vivāhayeyuḥ, 'let them (not) form matrimonial alliances,' indicates that orthodox Brāhmaṇas must neither give their daughters to Patitasāvitrīkas nor take the daughters of such persons.

[49]:

Gautama XIX, 9.

[50]:

Gautama XIX, 8.

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