History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c46.7

v3.c46.7

(1) In order to qualify himself for sannyāsa, a person had to perform a sacrifice to Prajāpati in which whatever he had he distributed to priests and the poor and the helpless (Manu VI. 38, Yāj. III. 56, Viṣṇu Dh. S. 96. 1, Śaṅkha VII. 1).²¹⁴⁸ The Yatidharmasaṅgraha (p. 13) prescribes that the Prājāpatyeṣṭi should be performed by him who had kept the three vedic fires and the iṣṭi to Agni should be performed by others who kept only the gṛhya fire. The Jābālopaniṣad 4 adds that the sacrifice should be for Agni (and not for Prajāpati as some hold). The Nṛsiṁhapurāṇa (60. 2-4) requires that before entering upon this order one should perform eight śrāddhas. The Nṛsiṁhapurāṇa 58. 36 allows every one who is a vedic student to become an ascetic if his tongue, his sexual emotions, his appetite for food and his speech are pure (i. e. under strict control). The eight śrāddhas are daiva (to Vasus, Rudras, Ādityas), ārṣa (to the ten sages viz. Marīci and others), divya (to Hiraṇyagarbha and Vairāja), mānuṣya (to Sanaka, Sanandana and five others), bhautika (to five bhūtas, pṛthvī &c.), paitṛka (to Kavyavāḍ fire, Soma, Aryaman, pitṛs called Agniṣvātta &c.), mātṛśrāddha (to ten mātṛs such as Gaurī, Padmā), ātmaśrāddha (to Paramātman). Vide Yati-dh. p. 9 and Sm. M. p. 177. Manu is careful to point out (VI. 35-37) that a man should fix his mind on mokṣa after studying the Veda, procreating sons, performing sacrifices i. e. after discharging his debts to the sages, the pitṛs and gods. Baud. Dh. S. II. 10. 3-6 and Vaik. IX. 6 state that an householder who has no children or whose wife is dead or who has established his children in the path of dharma or who is over 70 may become an ascetic. Kauṭilya (II. 1) prescribes that if a person embraces the order of ascetics without making proper provision for his wife and sons he shall be punished with the first ammercement.²¹⁴⁹ He has to deposit his fires in himself and leave home (Manu VI. 38).