History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c73.t1.147

v5.c73.t1.147

Manu III. 267–272, Yāj. I. 258–260, Viṣṇu Dh. S. 80 1 ff, Anuśāsanaparva chap. 88, the Śrāddhasūtra of Kātyāyan (kaṇḍikās. 7–8), Kūrmapurāṇa II. 20. 40–42, 29. 2–8, Vāyu 83. 3–9, Matsya 17. 31–35, Viṣṇupurāṇa III. 16.1–3, Padmapurāṇa (Sṛṣṭi 9. 158–164), Brahmapurāṇa 220 23–29, Viṣṇudharmottara I 141.42–47 state at length the periods of time for which pitṛs are gratified by the flesh of certain animals being served at śrāddha. The verses of Yāj being the shortest in all these works are given below. Yāj. ⁹⁵² states; Pitṛs are gratified by the serving of sacrificial food (such as rice, fruits, roots & c) for a month, for a year by (cows’s milk or) rice cooked in cow’s milk, for 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 months respectively by the flesh of fishes (pāṭhīna), of (red coloured) deer, of ram, of a bird (such as a *tittiri*), of a goat, of a spotted deer, of a dark-coloured deer, of a *ruru* deer, of a wild boar, of a hare the offering of rhinoceros flesh, of a fish called Mahāśalka, of honey, of food fit for hermits (wild corn such as *nīvāra*), the flesh of a red goat, of Mahāśāka (i. e. Kālaśāka), and the flesh of Vārdhrīṇasa—these secure inexhaustible fruit There is some divergence of views among the several works. For example, Manu III. 267 and 271, Kātyāyana (in śrāddhasūtra 7) appear to hold that by offering food prepared from village corn (such as rice, māsa & c.) `or wild eatables (such as *nīvāra* or fruits and roots) the gratification is only for one month and the flesh of Vārdhrīṇasa produces gratification for twelve years only (and not for all time). Visnu Dh. S. 80.10 and Manu III. 270 bring in buffalo flesh and tortoise flesh as giving gratification for ten and eleven month respectively. Hemādri (on śrāddha p 590)⁹⁵³ is careful to point out that these words about the duration of time are not to be taken literally but what is really intended is to convey greater and greater gratification of the pitṛs according to the kind of flesh offered. Pulastya quoted by the Mit and Aparārka p. 555 provides that a brāhmaṇa should generally or mainly offer at a śrāddha hermit's food, a kṣatriya or a vaiśya should offer flesh, a śūdra should offer honey and all varṇas may offer anything else (except these three) which is not forbidden.⁹⁵⁴ Whoever may be the offerer, the eater at a śrāddha dinner was to be a brāhmaṇa alone and so it follows that brāhmaṇas invited to a śrāddha by a kṣatriya or vaiśya had to eat flesh. Yet it is remarkable that even the Mitākṣarā and the Kalpataru written about 1100-1120 A. D. do not expressly say that in the Kali age flesh-eating at śrāddha is totally prohibited at least for brāhmaṇas. It has been shown already (H. of Dh. vol III. pp. 775-776) that even when animal sacrifices were the order of the day in the Ṛgveda and the Brāhmaṇas there was an undercurrent of thought that the offerings of fuel-sticks or of boiled rice when made with heartfelt devotion to the gods were as good as flesh offerings for securing their favour. In course of time that conception grew stronger and stronger, so much so that Manu (V. 27-44 and V. 46-47) and Vasiṣṭha appear to be in two minds (vide H. of Dh. vol. II pp. 778-780). Gradually the offering of flesh in Madhuparka and in śrāddhas came to be totally condemned in works of the 12th and 13th centuries and onwards as a matter prohibited in the Kali age (Varātithipitṛbhyaśca paśūpākaraṇakriyā). (Vide H. of Dh. vol. III pp. 945-946 and p. 964). Now except among the brāhmaṇas (in Northern India) who have no objection to include fish in diet as permissible to them no brāhmaṇa offers flesh in śrāddha. The usage of Northern India would be in accordance with the view set out in Bṛhannāradīya purāṇa that one should offer honey, flesh and other things according to the usage of the country, as explained by the Pṛthvīcandrodaya.