History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c73.t1.84.1

v5.c73.t1.84.1

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.