History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c73.t1.196

v5.c73.t1.196

The Hīr. Gṛ. (II. 10–13) is more elaborate than the Āp. Gṛ. and not only sets out at length many of the mantras in Āp. M. P. II. 19–20, but adds some more. The Śrāddhasūtra of Kātyāyana (1–3) sets out the procedure of the monthly śrāddha almost in the same way as the Yājñavalkyasmṛti (which is set out below). It states that in the monthly śrāddha first come the daiva rites and then the various items occur as in the Piṇḍa-pitṛyajña ‘piṇḍapitṛyajña-vad-upacāraḥ’ (first sūtra of the 2nd kaṇḍikā). Some details which it contains (and Yāj. does not expressly mention) may be set out here. It gives in full the mantras ‘tilosi’, ‘yā divyā’ (both of which occur in Aśv. gṛ.), ‘pṛthivī te pātram’ (which is Āp. M. P. II. 20.1). It prescribes that in addition to the Gāyatrī and the Madhumatī verses the word ‘madhu’ should be repeated thrice. The holy texts to be repeated while the brāhmaṇas are engaged in eating according to Kātyāyana are the Gāyatrī (once or thrice), the five Rākṣoghni verses (Ṛg. IV. 4. 1–5, Vāj. S. XIII. 9–13, Tai. S. I 2. 14. 1–2), Puruṣasūkta, the Apratiratha hymn (Ṛg. X. 103. 1–13 = Vāj. S. 17. 33–34, 46 = Tai. S. IV. 6. 4 1–4) and others. It expressly states that the *svadhāvācana* (Yāj. I 244) relates to both paternal and maternal ancestors. Besides the blessing contained in Yāj I. 246, Kātyāyana provides that the performer is to pray for and the brāhmaṇas are to pronounce two more viz. ‘May the pitṛs be kind (lit. not dreadful) to us’ and ‘May our family prosper’. Dr Caland in his learned work ‘Altindischer Ahnencult’ (pp. 150–152) appears inclined to hold that when a sūtrakāra has not actually said anything on certain items in the śrāddha ritual, one has no right to anticipate, on the authority of later authors, that those items existed in the times of that sūtrakāra. I demur to this conclusion. Dr. Caland has attached no weight to the fact that Jaimini (as stated in H. of Dh. vol III p 870) laid down the principle that one may include certain items from another śākhā. Jaimini’s sūtras cannot be supposed to have laid down those propositions for the first time. Jaimini’s sūtras are at least as old as some of the extant śrauta sūtras such as that of Kātyāyana Therefore hardly any chronological conclusions can be drawn with certainty from the silence of a sūtrakāra as to a certain item in the śrāddha ritual.