Manava Dharmashastra 3.161

3.161

agre ādau jātaḥ agrajaḥ sodaryo bhrātocyate | evaṃ hi paṭhyate— “pitṛvyaputrān sāpatnānparanārīsutāṃstathā | dārāgnihotrasaṃyoge na doṣaḥ parivedane” iti | atra sodaryo'grajaḥ | tasminsthite'kṛtadārāgnisaṃyoge | ‘tiṣṭhatiḥ’ prakṛtavyāpāranivṛttau prayuktaḥ | agnihotraśabdaḥ karmavacano'pi tadarthe'gnyādhāne vartate | smṛtyantare viśeṣaḥ paṭhyate— "unmattaḥ kilbiṣī kuṣṭhī patitaḥ klība eva ca | rājayakṣma|''mayāvī ca na yogyaḥ syātpratīkṣitum" || etadapyanadhikāropalakṣaṇārtham | ataścāpāṃkteyopi gṛhyate | kālaviśeṣo'dhiko vyapekṣyate | tathā ca smṛtiḥ-"aṣṭau varṣāṇyudīkṣeta, ṣaḍityeka" iti (gau0 sū0 18|16) eṣā ca varṣasaṃkhyā yadā kanīyān prāptavivāhakālaḥ tataḥprabhṛti draṣṭavyaḥ | vivāhakālaśca svādhyāyavidhinivṛttiḥ | "nanu ca proṣitādhikāre tatpaṭhitam | bhartari proṣite yaḥ strīṇāṃ pravāsakālastamupakramya bhrātarītyādi paṭhitam" | satyam | vākyāntare proṣitaśabdasya pratyakṣaḥ sambandho'vagataḥ | vākyāntare tu sambandhe pramāṇaṃ vaktavyam | na ca tadasti | "yathā svaritenādhikāra iti" | na cātra tacchabdo'sti na ca tadapekṣayā vinaiva tasya vākyasyāparipūrṇatvam | vasiṣṭhena cāviśeṣeṇāgniśabdena smārtasyāpyagnergrahaṇaṃ kṛtam | kecitpitaryapyakṛtādhāne vidhimicchanti | agrajaśabdasya yaugikatvāt pitā'pyagrajo bhavatīti | yadyevama-yo'pi yo'grajastatrāpyevaṃ prāpnoti | na cāyamagrajānujavyavahāraḥ pitāputrayorvidyate | smṛtyantare'pi tu paṭhyate (gau0 sū0 18 | 18) "bhrātari ca jyāyasīti" |

He who unites himself with “wife” and “Agnihotra,” while his elder remains, is to be regarded as the “superseder of his elder;” and the elder is to be regarded as “one who is superseded.”’—(171)

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
‘Agraja,’ ‘elder brother’—is the uterine brother born before one. Thus has it been asserted—‘There is no harm in the superseding of the uncle’s sons, the step-mother’s sons and the sons of other’s wives, by marriage and the setting up of fire;’ hence, in the present context, the term ‘elder brother’ stands for the uterine brother. While he ‘remains’—i.e., without marriage and without having set up the fire; the root ‘stkā’ (in the term ‘sthitê’) has been used in the sense of the absence of the act mentioned.

The term ‘agnihotra,’ though the name of the act of sacrifice, stands for the setting up of fire for purposes of that act.

In another smṛti, we find an exception—‘the lunatic, the sinner, the leper, the outcast, the eunuch and the consumptive need not be waited for.’ What is mentioned here is meant to be indicative of the condition in the form of the elder brother being in any way not entitled (to marry and set up the fire). Hence the ‘defiler of company’ is also included.

A special period has also been specified during which one is to wait for his elder brother to marry and set up the fire—‘one should wait for eight years,’—‘some say for six years’ (Gautama, 18.19). This period is to be reckoned from the time when the younger brother has reached the age of marriage; and the age of marriage is the time when one has duly fulfilled the injunction of Vedic Study.

“As a matter of fact, the period of time stated in the passage quoted refers to the man who has gone out travelling. The passage quoted above begins with the word ‘the elder brother being,’ which refers to the time during which the elder brother is out on travel. [So that it can have no bearing upon supersession by marriage].”

True; but the term ‘who has gone out on travel’ is distinctly found to be connected with one sentence [this sentence being ‘pravrajite nivṛttiḥ prasaṅgāt, Gautama, 18.16]; so that, for connecting the same word with another sentence [‘bhrātari chaivam jyāyasi yavīyān, 18.18], some special reasons should be stated. There is, however, no such reason; as there is in the case of such words as ‘there is connection between this and the term svarita;’ no such words, however, are found in the case of the sentences in question; nor is one sentence incomplete without the connection of the word in question.

Vaśiṣṭha has used the generic term ‘fire and has, therefore, meant the ‘Smārta’ Fire.

Some people have held this definition of ‘superseder’ to apply also to one whose father has not set up the Fire; the term ‘agraja,’ ‘elder,’ meaning simply ‘one born before one;’ so that the Father also is one’s ‘elder.’

In this manner, what is said here would apply to other ‘older’ persons also; as a matter of fact, however, the terms ‘younger’ and ‘elder’ are never used between father and son.

In another Smṛti we find—‘the elder brother being, etc., etc.’ (Gautama, 18.18. where the Brother is specifically mentioned).

The elder brother is called the ‘superseded’— (171)