"'Yudhishthira said, "It behoves thee, O foremost one of Kuru's race, to
tell me unto what kind of Brahmanas, O grandsire, should the offers made
at Sraddhas be given away."
"'Bhishma said, "The Kshatriya who is conversant with the ordinances about
gift should never examine Brahmanas (when making gifts unto them). In all
acts, however, that relate to the worship of the deities and the Pitris,
an examination has been said to be proper. The deities are worshipped on
earth by men only when they are filled with devotion that comes from the
deities themselves. Hence, one should, approaching them, make gifts unto
all Brahmanas (without any examination of their merits), regarding such
gifts as are made to the deities themselves. In Sraddhas, however, O
monarch, the man of intelligence should examine the Brahmanas (to be
employed for assisting the doers of the Sraddha in getting through the
ritual and making gifts unto them of the offerings made to the Pitris).
Such examination should concern itself with their birth and conduct and
age and appearance and learning and nobility (or otherwise) of parentage.
Amongst the Brahmanas there are some that pollute the line and some that
sanctify it. Listen to me, O king, as I tell thee who those Brahmanas are
that should be excluded from the line.[404] He that is full of guile, or
he that is guilty of foeticide, or he that is ill of consumption, or he
that keeps animals, or is destitute of Vedic study, or is a common
servant of a village, or lives upon the interest of loans, or he that is
a singer, or he that sells all articles, or he that is guilty of arson,
or he that is a poisoner or he that is a pimp by profession, or he that
sells Soma, or he that is a professor of palmistry, or he that is in the
employ of the king, or he that is seller of oil, or he that is a cheat
and false swearer, or he that has a quarrel with his father, or he that
tolerates a paramour of his wife in his house, or he that has been
cursed, or he that is a thief, or he that lives by some mechanical art,
or he that puts on disguises, or he that is deceitful in his behaviour,
or he that is hostile to those he calls his friends, or he that is an
adulterer, or he that is a preceptor of Sudras, or he that has betaken
himself to the profession of arms, or he that wanders with dogs (for
hunting), or he that has been bit by a dog, or he that has wedded before
his elder brothers, or he that seems to have undergone circumcision,[405]
he that violates the bed of his preceptor, he that is an actor or mime,
he that lives by setting up a deity and he that lives by calculating the
conjunctions of stars and planets and asterisms[406], are regarded as fit
to be excluded from the line. Persons conversant with the Vedas say that
the offerings made at Sraddhas, if eaten by such Brahmanas, go to fill
the stomachs of Rakshasas (instead of filling those of the Pitris), O
Yudhishthira. That person who having eaten at a Sraddha does not abstain
that day from study of the Vedas or who has sexual congress that day with
a Sudra woman, must know that his Pitris, in consequence of such acts of
his, have to lie for a month on his dung. The offerings made at Sraddhas
if presented to a Brahmana who sells Soma, become converted into human
ordure; if presented to a Brahmana who is engaged in the practice of
Medicine, they become converted into pus and blood; if presented to one
who lives by setting up a deity, they fail to produce any fruit; if
presented to one who lives upon the interest of loans they lead to
infamy; if presented to one who is engaged in trade, they become
productive of no fruits either here or hereafter. If presented to a
Brahmana who is born of a widowed mother (by a second husband), they
become as fruitless as libations poured on ashes[407]. They who present
the Havya and Kavya (offered at Sraddhas) unto such Brahmanas as are
divested of the duties ordained for them and of those rules of good
conduct that persons of their order should observe, find such presents
productive of no merits hereafter. That man of little intelligence who
makes gifts of such articles unto such men knowing their dispositions,
obliges, by such conduct, his Pitris to eat human ordure in the next
world. Thou shouldst know that these wretches among Brahmanas deserve to
be excluded from the line. Those Brahmanas also of little energy who are
engaged in instructing Sudras are of the same class. A Brahmana that is
blind stains sixty individual of the line; one that is destitute of
virile power a hundred; while one that is afflicted with white leprosy
stains as many as he looks upon, O king. Whatever offerings made at
Sraddhas are eaten by one with his head wrapped round with a cloth,
whatever is eaten by one with face southwards, and whatever is eaten with
shoes or sandals on all goes to gratify the Asuras. Whatever, again, is
given with malice, and whatever is given without reverence, have been
ordained by Brahmana himself as the portion of the prince of Asuras
(viz., Vali). Dogs, and such Brahmanas as are polluters of lines, should
not be allowed to cast their eyes upon the offerings made at Sraddhas.
For this reason, Sraddhas should be performed in a spot that is properly
hedged around or concealed from the view. That spot should also be strewn
with sesame seeds. That Sraddha which is performed without sesame seeds,
or that which is done by a person in anger, has its Havi robbed by
Rakshasas and Pisachas. Commensurate with the number of Brahmanas seen by
one that deserves to be excluded from the line, is the loss of merit he
causes of the foolish performer of the Sraddha who invites him to the
feast.
"'"I shall now, O chief of Bharata's race, tell thee who are sanctifiers of
the line. Do thou find them out by examination. All those Brahmanas that
are cleansed by knowledge, Vedic study, and vows and observances, and
they that are of good and righteous behaviour, should be known as
sanctifiers of everything. I shall now tell thee who deserve to sit in
the line. Thou shouldst know them to be such whom I shall indicate
presently. He that is conversant with the three Nachiketas, he that has
set up the five sacrificial fires, he that knows the five Suparnas, he
that is conversant with the six branches (called Angas) of the Veda, he
that is a descendant of sires who were engaged in teaching the Vedas and
is himself engaged in teaching, he that is well-conversant with the
Chhandas, he that is acquainted with the Jeshtha Saman, he that is
obedient to the sway of his parents, he that is conversant with the Vedas
and whose ancestors have been so for ten generations, he that has
congress with only his wedded wives and this at their seasons, and he who
has been cleansed by knowledge, by the Veda, and by vows and
observances,--even such a Brahmana,--sanctifies the line. He who reads
the Atharva-siras, who is devoted to the observance of Brahmacharya
practices, and who is steady in observance of righteous vows, who is
truthful and of righteous conduct, and who is duly observant of the
duties laid down for his order, they also that have undergone fatigue and
labour for bathing in the waters of tirthas, that have undergone the
final bath after performing sacrifices with proper Mantras that are freed
from the sway of wrath, that are not restless, that are endued with
forgiving dispositions, that are self-restrained masters of their senses,
and they are devoted to the good of all creatures,--these should be
invited to Sraddhas. Anything given to these becomes inexhaustible. These
indeed, are sanctifiers of lines. There are others also, highly blessed,
that should be regarded as sanctifiers of the line. They are Yatis and
those that are conversant with the religion of Moksha, and they that are
devoted to Yoga, and they that properly observe excellent vows and they
that, with collected mind recite (sacred) histories unto foremost of
Brahmanas. They that are conversant with Bhashyas, they also that are
devoted to grammatical studies, they that study the Puranas and they that
study the Dharmasastras and having studied them (i.e., the Puranas and
Dharmasastras) act up to the standard laid down in them, he that has
lived (for the stated period) in the abode of his preceptor, he that is
truthful in speech, he that is a giver of thousands, they that are
foremost in (their knowledge of) all the Vedas and the scriptural and
philosophical aphorisms,--these sanctify the line as far they look at it.
And because they sanctify all who sit in the line, therefore are they
called sanctifiers of lines. Utterers of Brahma say that even a single
person that happens to be the descendant of sires who were teachers of
the Veda and that is himself a Vedic teacher, sanctifies full seven miles
around him. If he that is not a Ritwik and that is not a Vedic teacher
takes the foremost seat in a Sraddha, with even the permission of the
other Ritwiks there present, he is said to take (by that act of his) the
sins of all who may be sitting in the line. If, on the other hand, he
happens to be conversant with the Vedas and freed from all those faults
that are regarded as capable of polluting the line, he shall not, O king,
be regarded as fallen (by taking the foremost seat in a Sraddha). Such a
man would then be really a sanctifier of the line. For these reasons, O
king, thou shouldst properly examine the Brahmanas before inviting them
to Sraddhas. Thou shouldst invite only such among them as are devoted to
the duties laid down for their order, and as are born in good families,
and as are possessed of great learning. He who performs Sraddhas for
feeding only his friends and whose Havi does not gratify the deities and
the Pitris, fails to ascend to Heaven. He who collects his friends and
relatives only on the occasion of the Sraddha he performs (without
keeping an eye on properly honouring deserving persons by inviting and
feeding them), fails to proceed (after death) by the path of the deities
(which is a lighted one and free from all afflictions and impediments).
The man who makes the Sraddha he performs an occasion for only gathering
his friends, never succeeds in ascending to heaven. Verily, the man who
converts the Sraddha into an occasion for treating his friends, becomes
dissociated from heaven even like a bird dissociated from the perch when
the chain tying it breaks.[408] Therefore, he that performs a Sraddha
should not honour (on such occasions) his friends. He may make gifts of
wealth unto them on other occasions by collecting them together. The Havi
and the Kavi offered at Sraddhas should be served unto them that are
neither friends nor foes but are only indifferent or neutral. As seed
sown on a sterile soil does not sprout forth, or as one that has not sown
does not get a share of the produce, even so that Sraddha the offerings
in which are eaten by an unworthy person, yields no fruit either here or
hereafter.[409] That Brahmana who is destitute of Vedic study is like a
fire made by burning grass or straw; and becomes soon extinguished even
like such a fire. The offerings made at Sraddhas should not be given to
him even as libations should not be poured on the ashes of the
sacrificial fire. When the offerings made at Sraddhas are exchanged by
the performers with one another (instead of being given away unto worthy
persons), they come to be regarded as Pisacha presents. Such offerings
gratify neither the gods nor the Pitris. Instead of reaching the other
world, they wander about even here like a cow that has lost her calf
wandering about within the fold. As those libations of ghee that are
poured upon the extinguished ashes of a sacrificial fire never reach
either the gods or the Pitris, after the same manner a gift that is made
to a dancer or a singer or a Dakshina presented to a lying or deceitful
person, produces no merit. The Dakshina that is presented to a lying or
deceitful person destroys both the giver and the receiver without
benefiting them in any respect. Such a Dakshina is destructive and highly
censurable. The Pitris of the person making it have to fall down from the
path of the deities. The gods know them to be Brahmanas who always tread,
O Yudhishthira, within the bounds set up by the Rishis who are conversant
with all duties, and who have a firm faith in their efficacy. Those
Brahmanas that are devoted to Vedic study, to knowledge, to penances, and
to acts, O Bharata, should be known as Rishis. The offerings made at
Sraddhas should be given unto those that are devoted to knowledge.
Verily, they are to be regarded as men who never speak ill of the
Brahmanas. Those men should never be fed on occasions of Sraddhas who
speak ill of Brahmanas in course of conversation in the midst of
assemblies. If Brahmanas, O king, be calumniated, they would destroy
three generations of the calumniator.[410] This is the declaration, O
king, of the Vaikhanasa Rishis. Brahmanas conversant with the Vedas
should be examined from a distance. Whether one likes them or feels a
dislike for them, one should give unto such Brahmanas the offerings made
at Sraddhas. That man who feeds thousands upon thousands of false
Brahmanas acquires merit that is attainable by feeding even one Brahmana
if the latter happens to be possessed of a knowledge of the Vedas, O
Bharata!"'"