Manava Dharmashastra 3.195

3.195

ādiśca antaśca ādyantau | daivaṃ ādyantāvasyeti daivādyantam | daivena karmaṇā ādirupakramaḥ śrāddhasya kartavyaḥ | ataśca nimantraṇaṃ devānāṃ pūrvaṃ kartavyam | antaḥ samāptiḥ | visarjiteṣu pitryeṣu brāhmaṇeṣu paścādaivānāṃ visarjanaṃ kartavyam | gandhādidāne'pi daivāpakramatāṃ manyante |
na tu teṣāṃ padārthānāṃ daivenopakramasamāptau sambhavataḥ, āvṛttiprasaṅgāt | prayogadharmaścāyaṃ daivādyantatā, na pratipadārthadharmaḥ | padārthānāṃ tu gandhamālyādīnāṃ daivāpakramatā viśeṣeṇa kartavyamuddiśyate | tāvatpravṛttikeneva krameṇa siddhayati | nimantraṇaṃ tāvaddaivapūrvaṃ kartavyam | yata eva prathamaḥ padārtha ārabdhastata evānyeṣāmāraṃbho yuktaḥ | padārthaḥ padārthāntarārambhaṃ niyacchati yataḥ | taduktaṃ 'prakṛtyā kṛtakālāṃnāṃ guṇānāṃ tadupakramāditi' |
tacchrāddhakarma īheta kuryāt | pariśiṣṭo'rthavādaḥ |
pitryādyantaṃ na tadbhavet | daivādyantatvasya vihitatvāt pitryādyantapratiṣedho'rthavādatayā laukikavākyavanneyaḥ | loke hi kiṃcidvidhāya tadviparītamaprāptamapi niṣedhati | kriyā hi dravyaṃ vinayati nādravyamiti |
kṣipraṃ naśyati sānvayaḥ | santānāphalapradarśanarūpo'yaṃ nindārthavādaḥ | ataśca sarvaṃ pariveṣaṇādi daivapūrvakaṃ kartavyam | yattvantarā bhaktādyupinayanaṃ pipāsatāṃ ca pānādidānaṃ tadyasyaivecchā prathamamupajātā tasmā evopanetavyam | anarthinastadanurodhenopanīyamāne pradhānavidhibādhaḥ syāt "harṣayet brāhmaṇāniti" | tathā kaścinmadhurarasapriyo'paro'mlarasasātmyastatra- 'bhakṣyaṃ bhojyaṃ ca vividhaṃ pānāni surabhīṇi ceti' - bahuṣu pānakeṣu satsu yadyanyānurodhena na anyatra rasasātmyamāpādyettato vyādhirasya janitaḥ syāt |
tasmādupakramasamāpane eva bhojane daivādinā |

‘Quickly perishes, along with his progeny;’—this deprecatoy description is meant to indicate that the man fails to obtain the reward in the form of offsprings.

From this it follows that all the acts, of serving the food and the like, should begin with what is done in honour of the gods. As for what is done during the process—the serving of more rice, &c., at intervals, the supplying of water to those that may happen to want water for drinking, and so forth,—all this should be done first to one who may happen to express his desire first. If one were to offer these things to one who does not want them, simply because of his being invited in honour of the gods, then one would be trans- greasing the principal injunction that—‘one should make the Brāhmaṇas happy.’

Some one may happen to be fond of sweets, another may be one who finds adds more wholesome; so that, having provided “various edibles and fragrant drinks” (Manu, 3. 227), if, by other considerations, one were to give to one what suits his taste and constitution, the invitee would contract disease.

From all this it follows that in the feeding it is only the beginning and end that should be done with those invited in honour of the gods.—(205)

‘It should never be one beginning and ending with a rite in honour of the Pitṛs’—Inasmuch as it has been already enjoined that the act should begin and end with what is done in honour of the gods, the further prohibition of beginning and ending with what is done in honour. of the Pitṛs has to be taken, in the manner of ordinary assertions, as a purely descriptive reiteration. In ordinary parlance, having laid down one thing, one often negatives its contrary, even though there be no possibility of this latter being adopted. As a matter of fact, an action controls the substance, not what is not a substance.