History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c73.t1.84
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c73.t1.84
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itself. The Matsyapurāṇa⁹¹³ and Padma (Sṛṣṭi-khaṇḍa 9.85-88) provide that the person intending to perform a śrāddha should in an humble manner invite the brāhmaṇas on the previous day or (in the morning of) the day of śrāddha, that he should touch the right knee (of the brāhmaṇa to be invited) with the words 'you are given this invitation by me' and repeat in their hearing the following observance 'you should be free from anger, should be intent on purity (of body and mind) and should abstain from sexual intercourse and I, the performer of śrāddha, shall also act in the same way and that the pitṛs in an aerial form wait upon the invited brāhmaṇas.' The Bṛhan-nāradīya-purāṇa states that the invitation should be in the words 'O best men! You should do me a favour and accept the invitation for śrāddha.' It is noteworthy that the Prajāpati-smṛti (63) prescribes that one should invite brāhmaṇas for a śrāddha or sacrifice for gods in the evening of the previous day after uttering the verse 'akrodhanaiḥ &c.'⁹¹⁴ The Skandapurāṇa VI. 217. 37 says that the performer should address the brāhmaṇa as follows: 'my father (is or will enter) into this your body and so will my grand-father; let him (the grand-father) come with his father and you should strictly observe the *vrata*' (the rules). The invitation to the brāhmaṇas representing pitṛs is to be given with the sacred thread in the *prācīnāvīta* form and to those for Vaiśvadevika in the *yajñopavīta* form.
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On the question whether the Vaiśvadevika brāhmaṇas were to be invited first or the brāhmaṇas for pitṛs were to be invited first there is a conflict among smṛtis and the medieval digests propose an option (vide Hemādri on śrāddha pp. 1154-1157). Manu III. 205 appears to lay down that the daiva brāhmaṇa should be invited first (daivādyantam tad-īheta). Yama quoted by several digests⁹¹⁵ says that the performer should request in the evening of the previous day brāhmaṇas with the words 'You should all be free from exertions and should avoid passion and anger for the śrāddha in my house which is to be performed tomorrow,' that the brāhmaṇas should reply 'let it be so if the night passes happily and without any mishap to us.' The digests (e. g. Śrāddhakriyākaumudī p. 81, Śrāddhatattva p 194 and Nirṇayasindhu III. p. 804) say that the verse 'sarvāyāsa &c' may be repeated when the invitation is given on the day previous to the day of śrāddha and the verse 'akrodhanaiḥ' when the invitation is given on the morning of the śrāddha day. The words of invitation differ according to different authorities. For example, according to the Mit. on Yāj I. 225 the words are 'śrāddhe kṣaṇaḥ kriyatām.' Vide Śr. Pr. p. 106 also. Manu III. 187 and 191 show that the words 'nimantraṇa' and 'āmantraṇa' are used as synonyms. In the Śrāddhasūtra⁹¹⁶ of Kātyāyana the word 'āmantraṇa' is used. But Pāṇini⁹¹⁷ (III.
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3 161) apparently makes a difference between the meanings of the two words and the Mahābhāṣya explains that invitation is called 'nimantraṇa' which if rejected (without proper cause) involves a fault or sin, while that invitation which one is free to reject (without incurring blame) is called 'āmantraṇa.' Therefore, it must be held that the few writers such as Kātyāyana who employ āmantraṇa use it in a secondary sense. The invitation should be given by a performer himself or by his son, brother or a pupil or a brāhmaṇa, but it should not be given through a person of another *varṇa*⁹¹⁸ or a woman or a child or person belonging to another *gotra* nor from a distance (Prajāpati 64). Pracetas provides that a brāhmaṇa performer of śrāddha when giving an invitation should touch the right knee, a kṣatriya inviter the left knee of the invitee, a Vaiśya inviter should hold both feet of the invitee and a śūdra should prostrate himself at the feet of the invitee (vide Śr. Pr. p. 106 and S. K. L. p. 47). The Mārkaṇḍeya (28. 35) states an exception that if, when a śrāddha rite is going on, brāhmaṇas or Vedic students or ascetics come by chance begging for food, the performer should make them pleased by falling at their feet and feed them (i. e. no formal invitation is necessary in these cases). Vide Viṣṇupurāṇa III. 15. 12 for feeding uninvited ascetics.
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It is provided by Bhṛgu quoted by Hemādri that the brāhmaṇas on accepting the invitation should pronounce the finely-worded and comprehensive Vedic benediction quoted below.⁹¹⁹