Manava Dharmashastra 3.270

3.270

nanu cāparāhvavidhānātkuto rājyādiṣu prāptiḥ | atha mataviśeṣavacanenānyatrāpyastīti jñāpitam | satyam | pūrvāhṇādaparāhṇo viśiṣyata iti yadepekṣaṃ viśeṣavacanaṃ tatraivāstīti sāmānyajñānaṃ pravartate | tena pūrvāhna eva kadācittasyānya uttarakāla iti kecidāhuḥ | grahaṇaṃ candrasūryayoriti candragrahādiṣu rājyākṣāvapi prāptaḥ, tanniṣedhārtham | ataśca sandhyāyāṃ candrasūryayoruparāgeṇa rātrau candragrahaṇe pratiṣedhād vidhānādvikalpaḥ | anye tvāhuḥmadhyāhnakālaḥ pūrvāhnāparāhlābhyāmanyastatrāpyetena pratiṣedhena kartavyamiti jñāpyate | sūrye caiva pūrvāhnakālatvātprathamodite sūrye pratiṣedhaḥ | rākṣasītyarthavādaḥ |

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
Objection—“Inasmuch as it has been laid down that Śrāddhas shall be performed in the afternoon, where was there any possibility of performance at night (that it should have been considered necessary to prohibit it)? It might be argued that the specification of the time itself implies the possibility of performance at other times also. This may be true; but the specification contained in the words, ‘the afternoon is preferable to the forenoon,’ (278) clearly indicates that the performance is possible only at that time, in comparison with which the prescribed time has been declared to be ‘preferable;’ so that the only other time at which the Śrāddha might be performed is the forenoon (and never the night).”

In answer to this, some people offer the following explanation:—The present text serves to prohibit the performance at night, which might be possible under the direction that Śrāddhas shall be performed during lunar and solar eclipses. So that there being prohibition regarding the twilights and the night, and sanction regarding lunar and solar eclipses, there is option between the. two twilights and the two eclipses, as also between the lunar eclipse and night.

Others, however, have explained that ‘midday’ is a time different from both ‘afternoon’ and ‘forenoon;’ and the present prohibition implies that there should be no performance at that time also.

‘When the sun has just risen,’—the time being the forenoon, the prohibition applies to the first rising of the sun.

‘Fit for demons’—this is a purely reiterative exaggeration.—(280).