[138] One should not feed a friend at a ceremony for the dead; his favour is to be won through riches. At a ceremony for the dead one should feed a twice-born man who is considered neither an enemy nor a friend. [139] There is no reward for the ceremonies to the dead and the oblations offered, after his death, on behalf of someone whose chief aim in performing ceremonies for the dead and oblations (to the gods) is the winning of friends. [140] The man who is so deluded that he uses the ceremony for the dead as an excuse to socialize, this lowest of the twice-born, this performer of ceremonies for the dead for friends, tumbles from the world of heaven. [141] Such a communal meal is said to be a sacrificial gift from twice-born men to the ghouls. It remains stuck here in this world like a blind cow in one stable. [142] Just as a sower who sows seed in barren soil reaps no harvest, so the donor who gives the offering to someone ignorant of the ṛg Veda obtains no fruit. [143] A sacrificial gift presented to a learned man in accordance with the rules gives both donor and recipient shares in the fruit, here on earth and after death. [144] At a ceremony for the dead it is better to honour a friend rather than an enemy, however well qualified, for an oblation eaten by an enemy bears no fruit after death.
[145] At a ceremony for the dead, one should try to feed a man who has crossed to the far shore of the ṛg Veda, or a scholar of the Yajur Veda who has gone to the end of his recension, or one who has concluded his study of the Sāma Veda. [146] If any one of these is fed and honoured at a ceremony for the dead, (the host’s) ancestors going back seven generations will be perpetually satisfied. [147] This is indeed the primary ruling when it comes to the presentation of offerings to the gods and ancestors. But the following should be known as the secondary ruling which is always practised by good men: [148] A man may feed (on these occasions, under this secondary provision) his grandfather or uncles on the mother’s side; his sister’s son; his father-in-law; his guru; his daughter’s son; his daughter’s husband; any relative on his mother’s side; his officiating priest; or a patron for whom he offers sacrifices. [149] A man who knows the law need not scrutinize the priest (invited) to the rituals for the gods. When it comes to rituals for the ancestors, however, he should diligently scrutinize (the guests).
[150] Manu has said that priests who are thieves, fallen men, impotent men, or atheists are unworthy of the offerings to the gods and ancestors. [151] At a ceremony for the dead one should not feed (a student or ascetic) with matted hair, anyone who has not studied (the Veda), a weakling, a gambler, or those who sacrifice for just anyone. [152] Doctors, priests who attend on idols, people who sell meat, and people who support themselves by trade are to be excluded from offerings to the gods and ancestors; [153] so, too, a person who contradicts his guru or who has abandoned his (sacrificial) fire, a usurer, a menial servant of the village or of the king, and anyone who has mangled fingernails or discoloured teeth; [154] a consumptive, a herdsman, a man who usurps his elder brother’s place or who allows his younger brother to usurp his place, anyone who neglects ritual formalities or hates priests and the Veda, or who is a central member of an association; [155] a travelling bard, a man who has shed his semen in violation of a vow, the husband of a servant woman, the son of a remarried woman, a one-eyed man, or a man whose wife’s lover lives in his house; [156] a man who teaches the Veda for pay or who pays to learn it, a man who has a servant as a pupil or a servant as a guru, or whose speech is coarse, the son of an adulterous woman or of a widow; [157] a man who abandons his mother, father, or guru for no reason, or who has joined, through Vedic or sexual bonds, with those who have fallen.
[158] An arsonist or poisoner, a man who eats the food of the son of an adulterous woman, a man who sells Soma, a seafarer, a panegyrist, an oil-vendor, a false witness; [159] anyone who argues with his father, a gambler, a drunk, a man whose evil deeds have made him ill, a man indicted, a deceiver, a seller of spices, [160] a man who makes bows and arrows, a man who marries his older brother’s widow, an ingrate who does harm to a friend, a man who lives by shooting dice, and a man whose son is his teacher; [161] an epileptic, a man with swollen glands, a leper, a slanderer, a madman, a blind man, and a man who reviles the Veda: they should all be excluded.
[162] A trainer of elephants, oxen, horses, or camels, an astrologer, a breeder of birds, and an instructor in the martial arts; [163] anyone who diverts streams, or who amuses himself by damming them up, a housebuilder, a messenger, and a (professional) tree-planter, [164] a man who keeps sporting dogs, a falconer, a corrupter of virgins, a violent man, a man who makes a living off servants, and one who sacrifices to groups of goblins; [165] a man who has turned away from (proper) conduct, an impotent man, someone who is always asking for something, a farmer, a club-footed man, and one whom good people revile; [166] a man who keeps sheep or buffaloes, the husband of a woman who was married before, and a man who carries out dead bodies – all these are to be strenuously excluded.
[167] A learned and eminent twice-born man should exclude from both (rituals, for the gods and for the ancestors) these lowest of the twice-born, whose conduct is contemptible and who do not belong in the rows. [168] Truly, an uneducated priest has been extinguished like a grass fire; no one should give him offerings to the gods, since one should not make an offering into dead ashes.
[169] I will explain to you, leaving nothing out, what fruits subsequently arise for the man who gives gifts to a man who does not belong in the rows at rituals for the gods or ancestors: [170] the ogres devour what is eaten by twice-born men who break their vows, by younger brothers who usurp the place of the elder brother and others like them, and by others who do not belong in the rows. [171] A man is known as a younger brother who usurps the place of the elder brother if he marries or lights the fires and begins performing the daily fire sacrifices before the elder brother has done so; the elder brother in these cases is called an elder brother whose place is usurped by the younger brother. [172] The elder brother whose place is usurped by the younger, the younger brother who usurps the place of the elder, and she who is involved (in such twisted-up marriages), all go to hell, together with the one who gives away (his daughter in such a marriage), and, fifth, the priest who performs the ceremony. [173] A man is known as a man who marries his older brother’s widow if, out of lust, he conceives a passion for the wife of his deceased brother – even if she has been appointed (to have a child by him) in accordance with law. [174] Two kinds of sons are born in other men’s wives, the son of an adulterous woman and the son of a widow: the former is (born) while the husband still lives, and the latter after the husband has died. [175] But creatures with the breath of life who are born in another man’s field cause the offerings to the gods and ancestors to be lost to those who give them, both here on earth and after death.
[176] When a person who does not belong in the ranks looks at those who do belong there while they are eating, the naive donor obtains no reward for all those who have been looked at. [177] If one blind man is visible, the donor’s reward for feeding ninety who belong there is lost; (the sight of) a one-eyed man loses (the reward for) sixty, a leper for a hundred, and a man whose evil deeds have made him ill, for a thousand. [178] When (a guest) who sacrifices for servants touches priests with any part of his body, the donor at the ceremony for the dead gets no reward for the gifts presented to all those who have been touched. [179] If a priest, even one who knows the Veda, greedily accepts the gift of that (unqualified) man, he goes speedily to his doom, as a pot of unbaked clay dissolves in water. [180] (Food) given to a Soma-seller becomes excrement; (that given) to a doctor becomes pus and blood; (given) to the priest who attends on idols, it disappears altogether; and (given) to a usurer it has no standing. [181] What is given to a man who makes his living by trade becomes nothing in this world or the other; what is given to a priest born of a woman who was married before is like an object offered as an oblation in dead ashes. [182] But wise men say that food given to those other bad people who do not belong in the rows, just described, become
s fat, blood, flesh, marrow, and bone.
[183] Now learn fully how the rows that are damaged by the presence of those who do not belong in the rows are purified by the inclusion of (certain) priests, and which of these priests are those who purify the rows.
[184] Those who are pre-eminent in all the Vedas and the explanatory texts, and also those born into a line of priests who know their Veda by heart, are known as purifiers of the ranks. [185] A man who has studied the story of Naciketas, or who keeps five sacrificial fires, or has studied the ‘three-bird’ passage, or knows all six of the supplementary texts to the Veda, or is born out of a Brahmā marriage, or can chant the ‘most excellent’ chant,[186] or who knows the meaning of the Veda, or can preach from the Veda, a chaste student of the Veda, one who has given away a thousand (cows at a sacrifice), and one who has reached the ripe age of one hundred are to be known as priests who purify the rows.
[187] Either on the day before or on the very day on which a ceremony for the dead is held, at least three priests such as are mentioned above should be duly invited. [188] A twice-born man who has been invited to a ritual for the ancestors, and the one who sponsors it, should always exercise self-restraint and not recite the Vedic chants (during this time). [189] For the ancestors hover about those twice-born men who have been invited; they follow after them like the wind, and sit down next to them when they sit down. [190] And if a priest is properly summoned to the offerings to the gods or the ancestors but somehow lets it pass by, he is evil and becomes a pig (after his death).
[191] A man who has been invited to a ceremony for the dead and pleasures himself with a servant woman pays for all the bad deeds of the donor of that ritual, whatever they are. [192] The ancestors are the deities of ancient times, free from anger, intent upon purification, always chaste; they have laid down all weapons and are counted among the great.
[193] Now learn everything about the birth of all these (ancestors), and which restraints should be observed in attending upon them.
[194] The various groups of ancestors are traditionally said to be sons of all those sages, beginning with Marīci, who are themselves the offspring of Manu, the child of the God of the Golden Womb. [195] The ‘Soma-seated’, the offspring of Virāj, are traditionally known as the ancestors of the Amenables. The world-famous ones called ‘Tasted-by-Fire’, the sons of Marīci, are (the ancestors) of the gods. [196] The ‘Seated-on-Sacrificial-Grass’, children of Atri, are traditionally known to be the ancestors of the demons, titans, genies, centaurs, snakes, ogres, supernatural birds, and quasi-men. [197] Those called the ‘Soma-drinkers’ are (the ancestors) of the priests, the ‘Oblation-eaters’ (are the ancestors) of the rulers, those called ‘Drinkers-of-Melted-Butter’ of the commoners, and ‘Those-who-have-a-Good-Time’ of the servants. [198] Furthermore, the ‘Soma-drinkers’ are the sons of Kavi, the ‘Oblation-eaters’ are the issue of Angiras, the ‘Drinkers-of-Melted-Butter’ come from Pulastya, and ‘Those-who-have-a-Good-Time’ are the sons of Vasiṣṭha. [199] The ‘Fire-burnt’, the ‘Non-fire-burnt’, the sons of Kavi, the ‘Seated-on-Sacrificial-Grass’, the ‘Tasted-by-Fire’, and ‘Those-Connected-with-Soma’ should be assigned (as ancestors) only to the priests. [200] Know also that those primary groups of ancestors listed above also have endless sons and grandsons here on earth.
[201] From the sages the ancestors are born, and from the ancestors come gods and humans. But from the gods comes the entire universe of living things, both moving and still, in order. [202] Just a little water, given to (the ancestors), with faith, in silver cups or cups inlaid with silver, procures an incorruptible reward. [203] It is more important for the twice-born to perform rituals to the ancestors than to perform rituals to the gods, for the ritual for the gods that precedes the ritual to the ancestors is traditionally regarded as making it grow strong. [204] In these (rituals to the ancestors), the ritual for the gods should be performed first, as a protection, for the ogres snatch away the ceremony for the dead that has been left unprotected. [205] One should take care to begin and end (the ceremony for the dead) with a ritual for the gods, and not one for the ancestors, for a man who attempts to make it begin and end with a ritual for the ancestors is quickly ruined together with all his descendants.
[206] He should’ smear cowdung on an unpolluted and secluded place, making sure to form it so that it slopes towards the south. [207] For the ancestors are always pleased with a gift made in clean, open spaces, on the banks of rivers and other secluded places. [208] When the priests have washed themselves thoroughly with water, he should have them sit on seats that have been individually prepared by spreading sacrificial grass on them. [209] When he has had those irreproachable priests take their seats, he should honour them with sweet-smelling garlands and perfumes, beginning with those who are there for the ritual for the gods. [210] When they have been given water, sesame seeds, and sacrificial grass used for a purifier, a priest, authorized by all the other priests together, should make offerings into the fire.
[211] He should begin by making the nourishing (ritual) to Fire, Soma, and Yama, offering the oblation in accordance with the rules. After that, he should satisfy the ancestors. [212] But if there is no (sacrificial) fire there, then he may simply make the offering into the hand of a priest, for priests who have insight into the Vedic verses declare that, ‘A twice-born man is the same as fire.’ [213] The ancients also say that those priests who are free from anger, easy to propitiate, and dedicated to making people grow strong, are the gods at the ceremony for the dead.
[214] When the whole series of rituals into the fire is finished, ending towards the south (or the right side), he should sprinkle some water on the ground with his right hand. [215] Making three balls out of the remains of the oblation, he should concentrate and, facing south, scatter them just as the water was sprinkled. [216] And then, when he has scattered those balls carefully after their ritual preparation, he should wipe that hand on those blades of sacrifical grass; this is for those ancestors who have the wipings as their portion. [217] He should then rinse his mouth, turn around (towards the north), slowly suppress his breath three times, and offer salutations with Vedic verses to the six seasons and to the ancestors. [218] He should then slowly pour out the remainder of the water again close to the balls. Then, with a concentrated mind he should sniff those balls in the order in which they were scattered. [219] Taking up a minute particle from each of the balls, in the proper order, he should feed this to those seated priests in accordance with the rules, before (feeding them anything else).
[220] If his father is still living he should scatter the balls only for those ancestors who precede him. Alternatively, he may invite his own father as one of the priests who come to the ceremony for the dead and feed him there. [221] If his father is dead but his grandfather is still living, he just offers salutations to his father and great-grandfather. [222] Manu has said that in the above case the grandfather may be fed at the ceremony for the dead, or, having obtained the permission (of the grandfather, the grandson) can carry out the ritual as he likes. [223] Placing into their hands sesame seeds and water on top of grass that serves as a purifier, he should give them the top part of that ball, saying, ‘This refreshment for the dead is for them.’
[224] Grasping with his own two hands (the dish) filled with food and meditating on the ancestors, he should carefully put it down near where the priests are sitting. [225] Evil-minded demons forcibly snatch away the food that is brought without using both hands. [226] Purified and with a concentrated mind, he should put down on the ground before (those priests) seasoned foods like soups and vegetables and also milk, yogurt, clarified butter, honey, [227] and various foods that are eaten and enjoyed, roots and fruits, tasty meats, and fragrant water. [228] Having carefully set all of this down before them, purified and with a well-concentrated mind, he should serve all these dishes, describing all the seasonings. [229] He should never let a tear fall (on the food), nor should he get angry or tell a lie; he must not touch
the food with his foot nor should he just shake it out. [230] A tear makes (the food) go to the dead spirits, anger to his enemies, a lie to the dogs; touching it with his foot, to the ogres, and shaking it, to evil-doers.
[231] He should ungrudgingly give the priests whatever they want; he should tell stories and pose Vedic riddles, because the ancestors want this. [232] For at a ritual for the ancestors there should be recitations (from the Veda) and the teachings of law, stories, historical tales, myths, and supplementary hymns. [233] Contented, he should delight the priests and feed them gradually and slowly, enticing them over and over again by describing the food and its seasonings. [234] At a ceremony for the dead he should try to feed his daughter’s son, even if the son is in the midst of a vow (of chastity as a student of the Veda). He should provide him with a seat covered with a cashmere blanket and strew sesame seed on the ground around it. [235] There are three purifiers at a ceremony for the dead: the daughter’s son, the cashmere seat, and sesame seeds. And for this they also extol the virtues of these three: purification, absence of anger, and absence of haste.
[236] All of the food should be served very hot, and those who eat it should do so silently. Even if the donor asks, the twice-born should not say anything about the seasonings of the oblations. [237] The ancestors eat that food only if it is hot, eaten in silence, and if there is no comment about the seasonings of the oblations. [238] The ogres eat the food that is eaten by someone with his head covered, or when he is facing south, or while he is wearing his sandals. [239] Neither a ‘Fierce’ Untouchable, nor a pig, a cock, a dog, a menstruating woman, or an impotent man should be watching the priests dine. [240] Whatever any of these looks upon at an offering into the fire, a gift-giving ceremony, a feast, or an offering for the gods or ancestors goes wrong. [241] The pig destroys (the offerings) by sniffing them, the cock with the flapping of his wings, the dog by letting his gaze fall upon them, and a low-class person by his very touch. [242] If there should be present a cripple, or a one-eyed man, or a person with too few or too many limbs, he also should be led away from that place, even if he is one of the donor’s menial servants.
The Laws of Manu Page 14