| [249] | A chanter of the principal Sama-veda. Portions of it contained in the Aranyaka are called the Jyestha ‘elder' or principal Saman. |
"Thus the householder, with faith, should offer oblations to the maternal grand father along with the worship of Viswadevas or he should perform the Viswadevas [250] ceremony. He should feed the Brahmins, who are for the gods and maternal ancestors with their faces to the east. And there who are for the paternal ancestors and ancestors in general should be fed with their faces to the north. Some say, O king, that separate Srāddha should be performed for these two classes of ancestors and others hold that they should both be entertained with the same food. The wise should spread Kusā grass for the seats of the Brāhmans and then worship them with libations; and having received permission from them he should then invoke the deities. Then the man who is acquainted with the ritual should offer a libation to the gods with water and barley and then flowers, perfumes and incense. Then he should offer libations to the manes placed upon his left; and having first provided seats of Kusā grass, he, with the permission of the Brāhmans, should invoke with the usual prayers, the manes to the ceremony, offering libation on his left hand of water and sesamum. If any guest arrives at the time who is desirous of eating or who is passing along the road he should worship him with the permission of Brāhmans; for the saints, for the behoof of mankind, travel over the earth disguised in various shapes and forms. It is for this reason, O king, that the wise worship a person who comes at such an hour—and if a guest is neglected—the fruits of an ancestral offering are baffled.
"With the permission of the Brāhmans assisting in the ceremony the householder should offer food without salt and seasoning to fire three several times, exclaming first, 'To fire, the Conveyance of oblations; to the progenitors Swaha'. Next addressing the oblation to Soma, the lord of the progenitors and giving the third to Vaivaswat. He should then place the residue in the dishes of the ancestors. He should then offer to Brāhmanas choice viands well dressed and seasoned and profuse and request them most gently to partake of it at their pleasure. The Brāhmanas should attentively, in silence and with smiling faces eat that food. The sacrificer not hungrily, nor in haste but with devout faith should offer that food. Thereupon repeating the prayers that slay Rakshas and scattering sesamum-seeds on the ground he should regard these eminent Brāhmanas as his ancestors and address them (saying). 'May my father, grand father and great grand father enter the persons of these Brāhmans and be propitiated with (my offerings). May my father, grand father and great grand father derive satisfaction from these oblations to fire. May my father grand father, great grand father derive gratification from the balls of food placed by me upon the ground. May my father, grand father, great grand father be propitiated with what I have offered them, this day, in faith. May my maternal grand father, his father and his father derive gratification from my offerings. May all the celestials derive satisfaction and evil beings die. May the imperishable Hari the lord of sacrifice accept the oblation offered to the manes or to the celestials and may all malignant spirits and enemies of the celestials depart from the ceremony'.
| [250] | It is a ceremony which comprehends offerings to both paternal and maternal ancestors or ancestors in general. |
"When the Brāhmans have been entertained with food to their satisfaction he should scatter a portion of the food on the ground and present them individually with water to rinse their mouths. And then obtaining their permission he should place upon the ground, balls made up of boiled rice and condiments along with sesamum-seeds. He should then offer libation along with sesamum-seeds with the part of the hand sacred to the manes: and with the samri part of the hand he should offer cakes to his maternal ancestors. He should diligently make gifts on all these occasions in lonely places, naturally picturesque and by the side of streams. Upon Kusā grass the tips of which are directed to the south and lying near the remnants of meats the householder should present the first ball of food consecrated with flowers and incense to his father; second to his grand father and the third to his great grand father; and then wiping his hands with the roots of Kusā grass he should satisfy them who are contented with the wipings thereof. Then having satisfied the maternal ancestors with balls of food consecrated with incense and flowers he should offer water to the principal Brāhmans to rinse their mouths. And then giving presents to the Brahmans with attention and piety according to his means soliciting their benedictions accompanied with the exclamation 'Swadha' and having distributed those presents to the Brāhmans he should address the gods saying 'May the Viswadevas be propitiated' and receive the reply thereto from the Brāhmans. The Brāhmans having said ‘So be it,' and granted him blessings he should first send away his paternal ancestors and then the celestials. The same order as regards food, gift and dismissal should be observed with the maternal ancestors and the gods. Beginning with the washing of the feet and ending with the dismissal of the gods and Brāhmans all the ceremonies should be first performed for paternal ancestors and then for maternal ancestors.
"Thereupon he should dismiss the Brahmans with sweet words and reverence, follow them to the gate and then come back with their permission. The wise will then perform the invariable ceremony called the worship of Viswadevas and then with a controlled mind he should take his meals in the company of revered persons, friends and servants.
"The learned should then celebrate the ancestral ceremony—for the ancestors being propitiated all his desires are fulfilled. The things are specially considered sacred at obsequies namely a daughter's son, a Nepal blanket and sesamum-seeds; the gift or naming or seeing of silver is also auspicious. O king, the person performing a Srāddha ceremony should abstain from anger, walking about and hurry and those who take their meals at the Srāddha should also avoid them. O king Viswadevas, paternal ancestors, and maternal ancestors are pleased with him who performs these obsequial rites.
"O king, the moon is the supporter of the manes and he is sustained by acts of austere devotion. Hence one, who practises austerities, should be appointed at the performance of a Srāddha. O king, if there is one Yogi in the midst of a thousand Brāhmans, he liberates both the sacrificer and all those who take their meals there".
SECTION XVI.
Aurva said—"Ancestors are gratified for a month with Havishya, [251] fish, or the flesh of the hare, of birds, of the the goat, the antelope, the deer, the gayal, or the sheep, or with the milk of the cow [252] and various preparations thereupon, They are perpetually pleased with flesh in general and with that of the long-eared white goat in particular, The flesh of the rhinoceros, the Kālasāka, potherb and honey, give special satisfaction to those who are adored at the obsequial ceremonies. Blessed is he, and the king who performs at the due time the Srāddha ceremony of his ancestors at Gya and that affords special delight to his ancestors. Grains that spring up spontaneously, wild-rice, white and black Panic forest vegetables, barely, wheat-rice, sesamum, various kinds of pulse and mustard are considered specially fit for ancestral offerings. O king, a householder should not offer any kind of grain that is not rendered sacred by religious rites nor the pulse called Rājamāsha, nor millet, nor lentils, nor gourds, nor garlick, nor onions, nor nightshade, nor camel's thorn, nor salt, nor the efflorescence of salt deserts, nor red vegetable extracts, nor any thing that looks like salt, nor any thing that is hated by people. He should not offer that water at a Srāddha that has been brought by night, or has been left off, or is so little as cannot satisfy a cow, or smells badly or is covered with froth. He should not offer milk of animals with undivided hoof, of a camel, a ewe, a deer, or a buffalo. Neither the celestials nor the manes will partake of the food if a Srāddha is looked at by a eunuch, a foundling, an outcast, a heretic, a drunken man, or one diseased, a cock, a naked ascetic, a monkey, a village hag, by a woman in her courses or pregnant, by an unclean person, or by a carrier of corpses. The ceremony should be celebrated on a plot of ground carefully enclosed. The performer should scatter sesamum on the ground and drive away evil spirits. He should not offer food that is fetid, or spoiled by hairs or insects, or mixed with acid gruel, or stale. Whatever pure food is offered to the manes, with faith and mentioning their names and race, gives them nourishment. O king, in the days of yore, in the forest of Kalāpa the Pitris said to Ikshwaku, the son of Manu 'Those, who shall respectfully offer to us cakes at Gya, shall follow a righteous path. May he be born in our family, who shall give us on the thirteenth of Bhādrapada and Māgha milk, honey and clarified butter, who shall marry a maiden, shall liberate a black bull and shall liberate a horse sacrifice accompanied with liberal presents'".