History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c91.86
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c91.86
- Language
- English
v7.c91.86.1
Then as to gifts to brāhmaṇas. In the first place, it must be remembered that all brāhmaṇas were not priests and are not priests in modern times. Similarly, all priests in all Indian temples and shrines are not brāhmaṇas Temple priests are comparatively a later institution and in olden times they were looked down upon and are regarded as inferior brāhmaṇas even in modern times. Manu (III. 152) states that a *devalaka* (a brāhmaṇa who performed for remuneration service before the image in a temple) was unfit to be invited at a śrāddha or to officiate in a sacrifice to gods, if he continuously served for three years in that capacity. The ideal set before brāhmaṇas from very ancient times was of poverty, of plain living and high thinking, of abandoning the active pursuit of riches, of devotion to the study of the Veda and śāstras, of cherishing a high culture and of handing down literature and cultural outlook. Smṛtis like Yāj I. 213 recommend that even if a brāhmaṇa be fit for receiving a religious gift he should refuse gifts and thereby he secures the same worlds that habitual donors secure. It was for preserving such high ideals among brāhmaṇas that Yāj I. 333 prescribes that a king should make gifts of cows, gold and land and should bestow on learned brāhmaṇas houses and requisites for marriage (maidens, expenses of marriages &c ). Vide H. of Dh. vol. II. pp. 856-858 where references are given to inscriptions containing donations to brāhmaṇas of houses and marriage expenses.
v7.c91.86.2
In these days every body talks of the high culture and literary traditions of ancient India. But who cultivated the vast Vedic and other Sanskrit literature, preserved it and propagated it for several millenia? The answer would have to be that it was mostly due to some of the brāhmaṇas who stuck to the ancient ideal for thousands of years. If the Ṛgveda can be put forward in these days as the most ancient of the literary monuments in any Aryan language, who preserved its more than ten thousand verses with unparallolled care by oral transmission without hardly any variant readings. The reply will again have to be that the brāhmaṇas did it by a self-denying ordinance. The Brāhmaṇas had to study the Veda with auxiliary lores without¹⁵⁰⁵ an eye to any ulterior motive, but simply as a duty and to understand the meaning thereof, they were to teach the Veda and other lores without demanding beforehand a fee, they had to bring up their own families, perform sacrifices and make gifts themselves. The only substantial sources of income were officiating at sacrifices and religious rites and receiving gifts. These sources must always have been variable, fitful and precarious The brāhmaṇas had no power to tax people as in the case of tithes in the West.
v7.c91.86.3
Nor had they a regularly paid hierarchy of deacons, priests, bishops and archbishops as in the Anglican Church Therefore, the brāhmaṇas are advised to approach the king or a rich person for their livelihood (vide Gautama IX 63 'Yogakṣemārtham-īśvaram adhigaccet). It should be noted that before Buddhism spread far and wide the sūtras and smṛtis emphasized that religious gifts should be made only to a worthy brāhmaṇa, learned and well-conducted. For example, Āpastamba¹⁵⁰⁶ prescribes 'one should invite for dinner in all religious acts brāhmaṇas that are pure, that have studied the Veda and that one should distribute gifts at a proper time and place, on occasions of purificatory rites and when there is a worthy recipient.' To the same effect are Vas. Dh. S III. 8, VI. 30, Manu (III. 128, 132, IV. 31), Yāj. (I. 201), Dakṣa (III. 26 and 31). Not every brāhmaṇa was in those ancient times a proper recipient for a gift, but he had to possess qualities of what is called '*pātra*'. A few definitions of pātra may with advantage be cited here. The Anuśāsana-parva¹⁵⁰⁷ has a long passage emphasizing the qualities of a deserving brāhmaṇa: 'gifts made to good brāhmaṇas that are free from anger, that are intent on dharma, are devoted to truth and selfcontrol yield great rewards;
v7.c91.86.4
the sages regard that brāhmaṇa as *pātra* who studies the four Vedas with their *aṅgas* (auxiliary lores like phonetics, grammar &c), who is active in doing six acts (viz abstaining from wine and meat, observing the bounds of morality, purity, study of the Veda, sacrifices, making gifts). Even a single eminent brāhmaṇa endowed with intellect, Vedic learning, good conduct and character saves the whole family; one should bring from afar a brāhmaṇa on hearing that he is possessed of good qualities and is approved by good men and should welcome him and honour him in all ways'. Yāj. furnishes¹⁵⁰⁸ a brief but striking definition of a worthy brāhmaṇa 'not by Vedic learning alone nor by *tapas* (austere life) alone worthiness arises; that person is declared to be *pātra* (worthy recipient for a religious gift) where both these (i. e Vedic learning and tapas) and good conduct exist'. Manu provides that religious gifts given to a brāhmaṇa who has not studied the Veda or who is avaricious or deceitful are fruitless and lead the donor to hell (IV. 192-194). The Bhagavadgītā also (17 22) condemns a gift given to an unworthy person as *tāmasa* (affected by tamas, arising from ignorance or delusion).