History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c74.99

v5.c74.99

One noticeable rule is that, though Manu III. 149 requires strict examination of the ancestry and learning of brāhmaṇas to be invited at a śrāddha, some of the Purāṇas provide¹³¹¹ that one should not enter upon an examination of the worth of brāhmaṇas at holy places and this view is endorsed by several digests such as the Kalpataru on tīrtha (p. 10), the Tīr. C. (p. 10) and the Tīr. Pr. (p 73). The last work remarks that brāhmaṇas who are known for certain to possess defects deserving condemnation should be avoided. The Varāhapurāṇa goes¹³¹² so far as to say that at Mathurā a pilgrim should prefer to honour a brāhmaṇa born and bred up in Mathurā rather than a brāhmaṇa who has studied the four Vedas (but is a stranger to Mathurā). Similar passages from the Vāyu and Skandapurāṇa have been quoted above in note 910 and there is another similar passage in Skanda. It is provided by the Vāyupurāṇa¹³¹³ that when a son goes to Gayā, he should invite only those brāhmaṇas that have been settled in Gayā by Brahmā and that such brāhmaṇas are above ordinary mortals, that when they are gratified the gods together with one's *pitṛs* become pleased, that one should not enter upon a consideration of their family, their character, their learning or their austerities and that when the Gayā brāhmaṇas are honoured the man doing so secures release (from saṁsāra). In Vāyu 106 73-84 and Agni 114. 33-39 and Garuḍa it is narrated that, after Gayāsura fell down and asked for boons which were granted by Viṣṇu, Brahmā bestowed upon the Gayā brāhmaṇas 55 villages and Gayātīrtha extending over five *krośas*, gave them well-appointed houses, desire-yielding cows and trees, but he enjoined on them not to beg or accept a gift from others. The brāhmaṇas, however, greedy as they were, officiated at a sacrifice performed by Dharma (Yama) and begged him for fees and accepted them. Then Brahmā cursed them that they would always be in debt and took away the Kāmadhenu and Kalpavṛkṣa and other gifts. The Agnipurāṇa ¹³¹⁴ (114. 37) adds that Brahmā cursed them to be bereft of all learning and to be full of greed. The brāhmaṇas then begged Brahmā to favour them with some means of livelihood (as they had been deprived by the curse of Brahmā of all that had been bestowed on them). Brahmā pitied them and told them that they would maintain themselves at Gayā-tīrtha till the end of the world and that those who would perform śrāddha at Gayā and worship them (by engaging them as officiating priests and pay them) would secure the merit of having worshipped Brahmā From this it is clear that the Gayā brāhmaṇas at the time of the composition of the section on Gayā at the end of the Vāyupurāṇa possessed the same characteristics as the modern Gayā brāhmaṇas (Gayāls or Gayāwals as they are called) and made the Gayā pilgrimage their business even then (as now). One of the early historic references to Gayāl brāhmaṇas occurs in the Śaktīpur copperplate of king Lakṣmaṇasena of Bengal in his 6th year (i. e. about 1183 A. D.)¹³¹⁵.