History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c35.10
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c35.10
- Language
- English
v2.c35.10.1
The sentiments that prompted the performance of these five observances appear to have been as follows: Every man could not afford to celebrate the solemn śrauta rites prescribed in the Brāhmaṇas and Śrauta sūtras. But every one could offer a fuel-stick to fire that was deemed to be the mouth of the great Gods¹⁶⁶⁸ of Heaven and thus show his reverence and devotion to them. Similarly everyone could show his reverence for and gratitude to the great sages that had bequeathed a glorious heritage of sacred literature by repeating at least one verse and one could propitiate his deceased ancestors by offering in loving memory and filial devotion a mere handful or vessel-ful of water (which costs nothing). The whole world human and non-human is one creation and there must be a spirit of live and let live or give and take. Therefore one must offer what one can afford to a guest and also have something for all beings (including even such shunned animals as dogs, crows and insects). These feelings of devotion, gratitude, reverence, loving memory, kindliness and tolerance seem to have been the springs that prompted the Aryans of old to emphasize the importance of the five daily yajñas and to have led sūtra writers like Gautama and legislators like Manu (II.
v2.c35.10.2
28) to look upon them as saṁskāras, as ennobling the soul by freeing it from mere selfishness and elevating the body to become a fit vehicle for higher things.¹⁶⁶⁹ Later on it appears that other purposes came to be attributed to the institution of the five daily yajñas. According to Manu III. 68-71, Viṣṇu Dh. S. 59. 19-20, Śaṅkha V. 1-2, Hārīta, Matsyapurāṇa 52. 15-16 and others every householder causes injury or death to sentient beings every day in five places, viz. the hearth, the grinding mill, broomstick, winnowing basket and similar household gear, mortar and pestle, and water-jar. The five daily yajñas were devised by the great sages as atonements for the sins arising from these five sources of injury to life. These five are: brahmayajña which consists in the study and teaching of the Veda, pitṛyajña which consists of *tarpaṇa*, daivayajña which consists in offerings made into fire, bhūtayajña which is offering oblations to beings and manuṣyayajña which consists in honouring guests. He who performs these daily according to his means is never tainted by the sin of the injuries arising from the five places mentioned above. Manu (III. 73-74) further¹⁶⁷⁰ says that former sages had a different nomenclature for the five yajñas i. e. *ahuta*, *huta*, *prahuta*, *brāhmya-huta* and *prāśita*, which were the same respectively as japa (or brahmayajña), homa (devayajña), bhūtayajña, manuṣyayajña and pitṛtarpaṇa (pitṛyajña). In the Atharvaveda VI. 71.
v2.c35.10.3
2 four out of these seem to be alluded to 'what came to me as huta or ahuta or given by pitṛs and assented to by men'.¹⁶⁷¹ Huta and prahuta in the sense of *homa* to gods and *bali* to bhūtas occur in Bṛ. Up. I. 5.2. But in some gṛhyasūtras different meanings are attached to these very words e. g. Śāṅ. gṛ. I. 5 and Pār. gṛ. I. 4 say that there are four pākayajñas viz. huta, ahuta, prahuta and prāśita and Śāṅ. gṛ. I. 10. 7¹⁶⁷² explains that they are respectively the same as agnihotra (or daivayajña), bali (bhūtayajña), pitṛ-yajña and brāhmya-huta (or mānuṣyayajña). The Hārīta-dharma-sūtra has a very interesting passage on this point. 'We shall now explain the *sūnās* (places of injury) which are so called because they kill moving and immovable sentient beings. They are five. The first (*sūnā*) is caused by actions like sudden entrance in water, plunging into water, whirling water, splashing it in various directions, taking water without straining it through a piece of cloth and driving vehicles; the second by walking about in the dark or away from the beaten path or in quick jerks or by treading upon insects &c.; the third by striking (a tree with an axe &c.), by plucking flowers &c., by tying with a rope &c., by crushing (in a mortar), by splitting (wood &c.); the fourth by cutting crops, by rubbing or grinding; and the fifth by ignition (of fire-wood), heating (of water), by roasting, frying and cooking.
v2.c35.10.4
These five injuries that lead to Hell are committed every day by people. Brahmacārins get rid of the first three by attending on fire and on their teacher and by the study of the Veda; householders and forest hermits purify themselves from these five by performing the five yajñas; ascetics get rid of the first two injuries by sacred knowledge and contemplation, but the injury caused by crushing cooked seeds under the teeth cannot be removed by any of these'.¹⁶⁷³ Although in the Āp. Dh. S. and others the five yajñas are enumerated in the order of bhūta-yajña, manuṣya-yajña, devayajña, pitṛyajña and svādhyāya, still the proper order from the point of view of the times of performance is first brahmayajña (japa &c.), then devayajña, then bhūtayajña, then pitṛyajña, and lastly manuṣyayajña.¹⁶⁷⁴ Therefore they will be dealt with in the same order here. But some matters have first to be noted. Various views were entertained about the time and nature of brahmayajña¹⁶⁷⁵ and pitṛyajña. According to Gobhila-smṛti II. 28-29 quoted above (n. 1663), *japa* prescribed in saṁdhyā adoration may be looked upon as brahmayajña, that the latter may be performed before tarpaṇa and after the morning homa or after vaiśvadeva. Nārāyaṇa on Āśv. gṛ. III. 2. 1 says that brahmayajña may be performed before or after vaiśvadeva. According to the Snānasūtra of Kātyāyana, brahmayajña precedes tarpaṇa and Āśv. gṛ. as stated above (p. 695) appears to regard tarpaṇa as part of it. Manu III. 82 (Viṣṇu Dh. S. 67.
v2.c35.10.5
23-25) enjoins upon a man the performance of daily śrāddha with food or water or with milk, roots and fruits and thus to propitiate and please the Manes of his deceased ancestors; while Manu (III. 70 and 283) says that tarpaṇa (done after bath) constitutes pitṛyajña. Therefore Gobhila says that śrāddha, tarpaṇa and the *bali* offered to pitṛs constitute pitṛyajña and even when one of them is gone through, the performance of pitṛyajña is effected and it is not necessary to perform all three.¹⁶⁷⁶ In the bali-haraṇa (described below) the remnants of bali are offered to pitṛs (Āśv. gṛ. I. 2. 11, Manu III. 91).