Manava Dharmashastra 3.255

3.255

bhuñjānānāṃ yatkiñcidbhujyadhikaraṇapātrasaṃlagnaṃ bhūmipatitaṃ ca tanna tasmāddeśādavamārṭavyaṃ, yāvadbrāhmaṇā na niṣkrāntāḥ | tato gṛhabaliṃ niṣpanne śrāddhakarmaṇyanantaraṃ vaiśvadevahomānvāhityātithyādibhojanaṃ kartavyam | baliśabdasya pradarśanārthatvāt | anye tu "bhūtayajña eva baliśabdena prasiddhataraḥ | tataścāgnau homo na prāgvirudhyata" ityāhuḥ | "na caitadvācyaṃ - 'pitrye karmaṇi prārabdhe kathaṃ karmāntarasya tadantaḥkaraṇam' | yathaiva pūrvedyurnimantriteṣu brāhmaṇeṣu sāyaṃ prātarhomakaraṇaṃ dvayahakalpe śrāddhasyāviruddhamevaṃ vaiśvadevahomo'pyaupasadāgnikaḥ | tena bhūtayajñātparāñcaḥ padārthā utkṛṣyante, nārvāñcaḥ |'' atrocyate | yadi prāgagnau vaiśvadevahomaḥ kriyate tataḥ śrāddhānantaraṃ baliharaṇaṃ, tathā sati devayajñabhūtayajñau vyavadhīyetām | tataśca kramoparodhaḥ | na ca vaiśvadevasya kālabādhaḥ kriyate | pitṛśrāddhakālahāneḥ | tasmātsarvaṃ mahāyajñānuṣṭhānaṃ śrāddhāduttarakālikam |

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
Until the Brāhmaṇas have departed, the food that may be contained in the dishes out of which they have eaten, or which may have fallen on the ground, shall not be removed.

‘After that, he should make the domestic offering.’ The Śrāddha rite having been finished, he should offer the oblation to the Viśvedevas and attend to the daily routine of feeding the guests, &c. The term ‘offering’ is merely indicative.

Others offer the following explanation:—“The term ‘offering’ here stands for the offering made to the elementals; and in this way the pouring of libations into fire before the feeding of Brāhmaṇas, does not become improper. It will not be right to argue that—‘when the rite in honour of the Pitṛs has been begun, it cannot be right to thrust into it other rites;’—for, according to the rule by which the Śrāddha extends over two days, though the inviting of the Brāhmaṇas (which is part of the Śrāddha) is done on the preceding day, yet there is nothing wrong in the morning and evening libations being offered into fire; and the same may be the case with the Vaiśvadeva libation, which also is poured into the ‘Upasad’ fire. So that what are postponed (till after the completion of the Śrāddha) are only those details that come after—and not those that come before—the offering to the elementals.”

Our reply to the above is as follows:—If the Vaiśvadeva oblation is offered into the fire beforehand, then the ball-offering would come after the Śrāddha; and in that case the ‘sacrifice to the gods’ and the ‘offering to the elementals’ would become separated; and this would militate against the prescribed order of sequence. Further, the time being taken up by the Śrāddha offered to the Pitṛs, this does not quite interfere with the time of the Vaiśvadeva oblation. From all this it follows that all the ‘Great Sacrifices’ should be performed after the Śrāddha.