II, 15

The Grihya Sutras, Part 1 (SBE29), by Hermann Oldenberg, [1886], at sacred-texts.com

KHANDA 15.

1 ¹. Should any one of the six persons (mentioned in the Srauta-sûtra and in the Sûtras 4-9) to whom the Arghya reception is due, visit (him), let him make (ready) a cow, a goat, or what (sort of food) he thinks most like (thereto).

2 ^2-3. Let the Argha not be without flesh.

3. On the occasion of a sacrifice and of a wedding let (the guest) say, 'Make it (ready).'

p. 88

4. The animal (offered) to the teacher is sacred to Agni;

5. If offered to an officiating priest, to Brihaspati;

6 ⁶. If to the father-in-law, to Pragâpati;

7. If to a king, to Indra;

8 ⁸. If to a friend, to Mitra;

9. If to a Snâtaka, to Indra and Agni;

10. Even if he performs more than one Soma sacrifice during a year, let only priests who have received (from him) the Arghya reception officiate for him, not such who have not received it.

11 ¹¹. Here it is said also:

Footnotes

87:1 15, 1. This Sûtra presupposes the Srauta-sûtra IV, 21, 1: 'To six persons the Argha reception is due, viz. to the teacher, to an officiating priest, to the father-in-law, to a king, to a Snâtaka, to a friend.' Here the fourth person mentioned is the svasura, while in the Grihya text the expression vaivâhya is used. It is difficult not to believe that both words are used in the same sense, and accordingly Nârâyana says vivâhyah svasurah. Comp. Professor Stenzler's note on Pâraskara I, 3, 1; Âpastamba II, 8, 7; Gautama V, 27.

Sâmânyatamam sadrisatamam mâshâdikam (mâkhâdikam the MS.) annam. Nârâyana.

87:2-3 2, 3. These Sûtras are identical with Pâraskara I, 3, 29. 30. The following Sûtra of Pâraskara stands in the Sâṅkhâyana text as p. 88 Sûtra 10. Probably Pâraskara here represents the text which both Sûtrakâras follow, more exactly, and the enumeration given by Sâṅkhâyana in Sûtras 4-9 of the different categories of Arghyas with the corresponding deities, is an addition to that original stock of rules.

Apparently the two Sûtras 2 and 3 stand in contradiction to each other, as Sûtra 2 seems to prescribe that at the Argha meal in every case flesh should be given to the guest, and Sûtra 3 specifies only two occasions on which the killing of the Argha cow cannot be dispensed with. Perhaps the meaning is this, that it is not necessary, except in the cases of a sacrifice and of a wedding, to kill a cow expressly for that purpose, but that in any case, even if the cow offered to the guest be declined by him, the host should take care that some flesh be served at that meal. So says Nârâyana in his note on Âsvalâyana-Grihya I, 24, 33, 'Pasukaranapakshe tanmâmsena bhoganam, utsarganapakshe mâmsantarena.' Similarly the Buddhists distinguish between eating flesh and eating the flesh of an animal expressly killed in order to entertain that very guest.

88:6 The literal translation of vaivâhya would be 'a person related by marriage.' But comp. the note on Sûtra 1.

88:8 Priya of course does not mean gâmâtar, as is stated in a number of commentaries. Gobhila says, priyo^ऽtithih.

88:11 Other persons, for instance a king, can claim the Argha reception not more than once a year. Comp. Âpastamba II, 8, 7; Gautama V, 28, 29, &c.