History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c73.t1.84.3

v5.c73.t1.84.3

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.