The Law Code of Yājñavalkya 3.3.7

3.3.7

nanu ca putranikṣiptapatnīkasya tadvirahiṇaḥ katham agnihotrādikarmānuṣṭhānaṃ ghaṭate, patnyā saha yaṣṭavyam iti sahādhikāraniyamāt | satyam evam | kiṃ tv atra patnīnikṣepavidhibalād eva tannairapekṣyeṇādhikāraḥ kalpyate | yathā hi rajasvalāyāṃ yasya vratye 'hani patny anālambhukā syāt tām aparudhya yajeta ity avarodhavidhibalāt tannirapekṣatā | yad vā vanaṃ pratiṣṭhamānam eva patiṃ patny anumanyata iti na virodhaḥ | na ca yathā brahmacāriṇo vidhurasya vā vanaṃ prasthitasyāgnihotrādiparilopas tathā nikṣiptapatnīkasyāpy agnihotrādyabhāva iti śaṅkanīyam, apākṣikatvena śravaṇāt | na ca brahmacārividhurayor apy agnisādhyakarmasv anadhikāraḥ, pañcamamāsād ūrdhvam āhitaśrāvaṇikāgnes tadadhikāradarśanāt, vānaprastho jaṭilaś cīrājinavāsā na phālakṛṣṭam adhitṣṭhet, akṣṛṭaṃ mūlaphalaṃ saṃcinvīta ūrdhvaretāḥ kṣamāśayo dadyād eva na pratigṛhṇīyād ūrdhvaṃ pañcabhyo māsebhyaḥ śrāvaṇikenāgnīn ādhāyāhitāgnir vṛkṣamūlako dadyād devapitṛmanuṣyebhyaḥ sa gacchet svargam ānantyam (VaDh 9.112) iti vasiṣṭhasmaraṇāt | cīraṃ vastrakhaṇḍo valkalaṃ vā | phālakṛṣṭam adhitiṣṭhet kṛṣṭakṣetrasyopari na nivaset | śrāvaṇikena vaidikena mārgeṇa na laukikenetyarthaḥ || 3.45 ||

[Objection:] But how can one who has entrusted his wife to his sons and is separated from her perform rites such as the agnihotra, since there is the rule of joint qualification, namely, 'One must sacrifice along with one's wife'? [Reply:] That is true. However, here, solely by the force of the rule enjoining the entrusting of one's wife, a qualification is postulated independently of her. Just as when [a wife] is menstruating, on the basis of the injunction of exclusion—'If anyone's wife should be untouchable on the day of an observance, he should sacrifice after confining her'—there is an independence from her; or else, the wife simply consents to the husband departing for the forest, and thus there is no contradiction. Nor should it be suspected that just as for a celibate student or a widower who has departed for the forest there is a cessation of the agnihotra and other rites, so too for one who has entrusted his wife there is an absence of the agnihotra and other rites; for it is heard [in scripture] as not being merely optional. Nor indeed is there a lack of qualification for rites to be accomplished by fire even for a celibate student and a widower, because their qualification is seen after the fifth month for one who has established the śrāvaṇika fire, according to the recollection of Vasiṣṭha: 'A forest-dweller, with matted hair, wearing rags and skins, should not reside upon land tilled by a plough; he should gather uncultivated roots and fruits, chaste, sleeping on the bare ground; he should only give, not accept [gifts]; after five months, having established the fires through the śrāvaṇika [rite], possessing consecrated fires, living at the root of a tree, he should give to the gods, ancestors, and human beings; he attains unending heaven.' Rags (cīra) means a piece of cloth or bark. 'Should not reside upon land tilled by a plough' means he should not dwell upon cultivated land. 'By the śrāvaṇika' means by the Vedic path, not by the worldly one, is the meaning. || 3.45