History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c28.s2.2.3

v2.c28.s2.2.3

3), washing the slaughtered animal (*compare* Śat. Br. III. 8. 2 and Gobhila gṛ III. 10. 29), looking at the *ājya* in śrauta sacrifices. The Pūrvamīmāṁsā¹²⁹⁴ (VI. 1. 17–21) establishes that both husband and wife own property and should join together in performing sacrifices, but that the male sacrificer alone is ordinarily to do every act in all religious ceremonies except such matters as are expressly declared to be performed by the wife also or alone (as e. g. observing celibacy, uttering benediction &c.). It is on account of the necessity of associating the wife in all religious acts that the hero Rāma was compelled to celebrate sacrifices with a golden image of Sītā by his side.¹²⁹⁵ Pāṇini (IV. 1. 33) derives the word *patnī* and says that it can be only applied to a wife who shares in the sacrifice (and its reward). It follows that wives who are not or cannot join with their husbands in yajñas are only *jāyās* or *bhāryās* (but not *patnīs*). The Mahābhāṣya says¹²⁹⁶ that the wife of a śūdra is called *patnī* only by analogy (as a śūdra himself has no adhikāra for yajña, his wife can much less have it). It is on account of this close association of the wife in all sacrifices (either śrauta or smārta) that the wife if she dies before her husband is burnt with the sacred fire or fires and with the sacrificial vessels and implements (Manu V. 167–168, Yāj. I. 89). The Tai. Br. III. 7.