History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c40.40

v3.c40.40

At p. 100 above it has been stated how brāhmaṇas following several occupations that were deemed low were not invited at śrāddhas. Gaut.1838a XV. 28-29, Baud. Dh. S. II. 8. 2, Āp. Dh. S. II. 7. 17. 21-22, Vas. Dh. S. III. 19, Viṣṇu 83. 2-21, Manu III. 184-186, Śaṅkha (in verse) 14. 1-8, Anuśāsanaparva 90, 34, the Vāyu (chap. 79 and 83, Ānand. ed.) and several other purāṇas contain long lists of those brāhmaṇas who sanctify the company of diners when they sit down for dinner (they are paṅkti-pāvanas) and of those who defile the company of diners by their presence in the row of diners (they are *paṅkti-* *dūṣakas*). A paṅktipāvana is one who knows the six aṅgas of the Veda (vide note 775 above), who has studied the Jyeṣṭhasāman, who has kindled the Nāciketa fire, who knows the three madhu verses, who has studied the texts called Trisuparṇa, who maintains the five fires (vide p. 679 above), who has taken the ceremonial bath after finishing vedic studies, who knows the Mantras and the Brāhmaṇa of his Veda, who has studied dharmaśāstra and who is the son of a woman married in the brāhma form. Āp. Dh. S. adds 'one who has performed the four medhas' (Aśvamedha, Sarvamedha, Puruṣamedha and Pitṛmedha, according to Haradatta). Manu says that one who understands the meaning of the Veda, one who expounds the Veda, a brahmacārin, one who is a liberal donor (*lit.* one who gives a thousand cows), one who has reached the age of one hundred are all paṅktipāvanas. Śaṅkha states that one who is devoted to Yoga, one who regards gold and a clod of earth as equal, an ascetic given to contemplation are all paṅktipāvanas. Anuśāsana 90. 34 and Vāyu 83. 52-55 include those who study the bhāṣyas, those who are devoted to grammar, those who study the purāṇas among paṅkti-pāvanas. Among those who defile company are one suffering from leprosy, a bald man, one who is guilty of adultery, who is the son of a brāhmaṇa following the profession of arms (Āp. Dh. S. II. 7. 17. 21); those who engage in acts not fit for brāhmaṇas, those who are cunning, those who have deficient or excessive limbs, those who have abandoned Veda, the sacred fires and their parents or gurus, those who subsist on food given by śūdras (Śaṅkha XIV. 2-4). Vide Aparārka pp. 453-455 for quotations on those who defile company.