Manava Dharmashastra 3.129

3.129

pūrvasya pratiṣedhasyārthavādo'yam | mitraśabdo'yaṃ bhāvapradhānaḥ, 'mitrapradhānāni' maitrapradhānāni | tenobhayoḥ arimitrayoḥ śeṣaḥ | devatoddeśena dānamadṛṣṭārthaṃ vā kevalaṃ brāhmaṇabhojanaṃ 'havīṃṣi' iti lakṣyate | pretya phalaṃ nāsti | "nanu cāsamānakartṛtvātkāryānutpattiḥ | pretyaḥ kartā puruṣaḥ śrāddhakṛt astitāyā nañarthopahitāyāḥ phalam |" kecidāhuḥ-pretyetiśabdāntaraṃ paralokavacanaṃ nipātasaṃjñam | atha pretyo'pi phalaṃ kartṛ, 'tasya phalaṃ pretya' prakarṣeṇa nikaṭamāgatyāpi 'na bhavati' na bhogyatāṃ yāti |

He at whose Śrāddhas and sacrifices, the friend forms the principal factor,—for him, after death, there is no reward, either for Śrāddhas or for sacrifices.—(139)

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
This verse supplies the commendatory supplement to the foregoing prohibition.

The term ‘friend’ is used here in the abstract sense; hence the meaning is ‘in which friendship enters as the prime consideration.’ And this includes both friend and foe.

The term ‘sacrifice’ stands for (1) gifts given with reference to gods and (2) the feeding of Brāhmaṇas with a view to some transcendental result.

‘Pretya phalam nāsti’ (‘after death there is no reward’)—

“No construction is possible of this clause; since the nominative of the root ‘pra + iṇ’ (of the act of dying denoted by the word ‘pretya’) is the person performing the śrāddha, whereas of the verb ‘na + asti’ (‘is not’) the nominative is ‘phala,’ ‘reward’ [and as a rule, the nominative of the participle ‘pretya’ and the finite verb ‘nāsti’ should be one and the same].”

In answer to this, some people explain that the term ‘pretya’ is an independent word, an indeclinable noun, denoting the other world [and is not a participle at all]. Another explanation is that of the root pra + in also ‘reward’ is the nominative; the meaning of the participle in this case being ‘even though arriving near,’ ‘it does not come about,’—i.e., it fails to be enjoyed.—(139)