Manava Dharmashastra 3.135

3.135

'vedapāraga-śākhāntaga-samāptikāḥ' śabdā ekārthāḥ samantrabrāhmaṇikāyāḥ kṛtsnāyāḥ śākhāyā adhyetṝnācakṣate- na mantrasaṃhitāyā, nāpi brāhmaṇasya, tadekadeśasya vā | vedaikaśākhādhyāyino'pi śrotriyā ucyante | atastannivṛttyarthamuktam– 'śrotriyāya deyamiti' | śrotriyaśca vedādhyāyī | vedaśabdaśca samantrabrāhmaṇikāṃ śākhāmāracaṣṭe, tadekadeśamapi kṛtsnaśākhādhyāyī kathaṃ gṛhya tetyevamarthamidam |
"nanu cāśramiṇo bhojanīyā ityuktam | tatrānadhītasakalasvādhyāyānāṃ naiva gārhasthyādyāśramasambhavaḥ | evaṃ hyuktaṃ 'vedaḥ kṛtsno'dhigantavya' iti” | brahmacāriṇastarhi prakrāntavedādhyayanasya asamāptigasyāpi syāt | vedapāragaśākhāntagasamāptikaśabdairekārthaiḥ kātsnyaṃ sarvaireva pratipādyate | ekenaiva siddhe vṛttānurodhānnānārūpaikārthānekaśabdoccāraṇam | vedānāṃ pāraṃ gacchati | śākhāyā antaḥsamāptirasyāstīti samāptikaḥ | adhvaryuryajurvedaśākhādhyāyī, nāyamṛtvigviśeṣavacano'dhvaryuśabdaḥ | ‘ādhvaryavaḥ’ pravacanamucyate, tadadhyayanasambandhāt puruṣo'dhvaryuḥ | chandogaḥ sāmavedādhyāyī | smṛtyantare trisāhasravidyaḥ samāptika uktaḥ | tatra ‘sahasra’śabdaḥ sahasragītisambandhāt sāmavede vartate, tasya imāḥsāhasryastisraḥ sāhasrayaḥ vidyā yasya sa ‘trisāhasravidyaḥ’ | tāṇḍavamaikyikyaṃ sāmagānamiti sahasravartmanaḥ sāmavedasya tisro vidyāḥ | daśatayī catuḥṣaṣṭi brāhmaṇaṃ ca bahvṛcam | anye tvātharvaṇikaniṣedhārthamimaṃ ślokaṃ manyante | kātsnyaivivakṣāyāmetadevāvakṣyat— ‘adhīte vedaśākhāṃ yaḥ kṛtsnāṃ taṃ bhojayeddvijam’ iti | ‘‘nanu cātharvaṇikaniṣedhe'pyetatsamānam | tatrāpi śakyamevaṃ vaktuṃ tanniṣedhe prāyeṇa— ‘na bhojya ātharvaṇika’ ityevamevāvakṣyat | svaśabdena niṣedhapratipattirlāghavaṃ ca’’ | naitadevam | kimanyavidhānenānyaniṣedho'vagamyate svaśabdena vā niṣedhaḥ | vicitrā dharmopadeśasya kṛtirmanoḥ || 134–135 ||

With great care one should feed at a Śrāddha the adherent of the Ṛgveda who is thoroughly versed in his Veda, or the adherent of the Yajurveda who has finished the entire recensional text, or the adherent of the Sāmaveda who has reached the end of it.—(145).

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
The three terms—‘thoroughly versed in the Veda,’ ‘who has finished the entire recesional text’ and ‘who has reached the end of it’—are synonymous; everyone of them denotes persons who have learnt the whole recensional text, including the Mantra as well as the Brāhmaṇa; not those who have learnt either the Mantra-text alone or the Brāhmaṇa- text alone, or only a portion of these. The name ‘śrotriya,’ ‘learned in the Veda,’ is Applied, to even those who have learnt only a part of the Veda; hence the three terms in the present verse have been used for the purpose of excluding the mere ‘śrotriya.’ In regard to this latter, it has been said (in 128) that ‘the offering should be given to the śrotriya;’ the term ‘śrotriya’ means ‘one learned in the Veda;’ and the term ‘veda’ denotes the entire recensional text, including the Mantra and the Brāhmaṇa, as also a part of these. Consequently, for the purpose of referring to one who has learnt the entire ṛecensional text, the Text 1ms used the terms in question.

“It has been laid down above (134-135) that one shall feed only such persons as belong to one or the other stage; and until one has learnt the entire Vedic text, it is not possible for one to cuter upon the state of the Householder; as it has been asserted that ‘the entire Veda should be learnt’ (2.165).”

But even so, it would he open to one to feed the Student who has begun to learn the Veda,—even before he has finished it. Hence all the three synonymous terms—‘thoroughly versed in the Veda,’ ‘who has finished the entire recensional text,’ and ‘who has reached the end of it’—indicate that the whole Veda should have been learnt.

Though only one of these words would have sufficed for the purpose, yet the Author has made use of several forms of the same expression in view of metrical exigencies.

‘Vedapāragah,’ ‘Thoroughly versed in the Veda,’—who has gone through the entire Veda.

‘Śākhāntagaḥ’ ‘who has finished the entire recensional text’— the end of the recensional text.

‘Samāptikaḥ,’—‘who has reached the end of it.’

‘Adhvaryu,’ ‘adherent of the Yajurveda’—one who has studied the Yajurveda; this term is not used here as the name of one of the principal sacrificial priests. ‘Ādhvargava’ is the name given to the act of reciting; hence the person connected with this act is called ‘Adhvaryu.’

‘Chāndoga,’ ‘adherent of the Sāmaveda,’—one who studies the Sāmaveda.

In another Smṛti, it is the person who has learnt the ‘three thousands’ that has been called ‘samāptika;’ and the term ‘thousand’ here denotes the Sāmaveda, by reason of its being related to a thousand musical forms.; and one. whose learning consists of three of these ‘thousand’ is ‘one who has learnt the three thousands;’ the three forms being (I) the

‘Tāṇḍava’ (Texts relating to Dancing), (2) the ‘Aukthikya’ (Texts relating to the Ukthas) and (2) the ‘Sāmagāna’ (the singing of Sāmu verses); these are the three ‘sciences’ of the Sāmaveda, of which there are a thousand recensions.

The ‘Ṛgveda’ stands for the Saṃhitā text of ten Maṇḍalas divided into sixty-four adhyāyas and the Brāhmaṇa.

Others have explained this verse as excluding the adherents of the Atharva Veda from being fed. (They argue that) if the author had intended to include all the Vedas, he would have simply said—‘one should feed that Brāhmaṇa who has learnt the entire recensional text of the Veda.’

“The same argument might be urged against the verse being taken as excluding the adherent of the Atharva Veda: if this exclusion had been intended, the Author could have simply said—‘the adherent of the Atharva Veda shall not be fed.’ Such a statement would be very much simpler and a more direct way of laying down the exclusion.”

There is no force in this; as Munu’s way of teaching Dharma is diverse: sometimes he leaves the negation to be implied by means of an affirmation, and at others he puts the negation directly in its own words.—(145).