History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c37.90.5

v3.c37.90.5

For *naivedya* no food is to be offered which is declared unfit in the śāstras for eating, nor the milk of a she-goat or she-buffalo though they are allowed for food, nor the meat of the five-nailed animals nor the flesh of the wild boar nor fish. The general rule is stated by the Rāmāyaṇa as 'whatever food a man eats the same is the food to be offered to his deities'.¹⁷⁴⁶ The Sm. C. (I. p. 203) quotes the Padmapurāṇa to the effect that *naivedya* should be offered in a vessel of gold, silver, bronze, copper or of clay or in palāśa leaves or on lotus leaf. The *naivedya* is offered with the formula set out below.¹⁷⁴⁷ According to the Brahmapurāṇa quoted by Aparārka, pp. 153-154 and Pūjāprakāśa (p. 82) the naivedya offered to Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Śiva, the Sun, Devī, the Mātṛs, to goblins and evil spirits respectively is to be given to brāhmaṇas, Sātvatas (Bhāgavatas), those whose bodies are smeared with ashes, to Magas, to the Śāktas, to women, to the poor.¹⁷⁴⁸