30 - Madálasa’s Exhortation (continued).

Madalasa explains to Alarka the ceremonies to be performed by a griha-stha, which are of three kinds, continual, occasional and periodi -She explains the occasional śhráddha, which is celebrated for men and women. 

Madálasá spoke.

1       “Now what the griha-stha’s ceremonies are, the continual, and the occasional, and the periodical, listen theroto, my son. 

2       “The continual are comprised in the five sacrifices, * these that I have described to thee: and the occasional are the others, such as the ceremony on the birth of a son, and so

*Brahma (i. e. Veda)-yajna, dova-yajna, pitri-yajna, manushya-yajna, and bhúta-yajna (all created beings.)

3 forth. Tho periodical† are recognisable by the learned as the sacrifices at the moon’s changes, the śhráddha and others. 

† Road nitya-naimittikam for nitya naimittika. 

“Here †† I will tell thee of the occasional shráddha celebration,

†† Read atra for tatra?

4 of the birth-ceremony that should be performed Similarly, by men on the birth of a son; and everything duly related in order that should be done at marriages and on other occasions.

5 And in this the Nándí-mukha pitris§ must be worshipped; and he should give the piņdas mixed with curds and containing

§ Nine pitris, viz., the six parents, grandparents and great-grandparents on the palernal side, and the grandfather, great-grandfather and great-great grandfather on the maternal side 

6 barley, facing northward or eastward, with composed mind making the oblation. Some men like it with the offer

7 ing to the Vishva-devas omitted. And in this cememory the dvijas must be arranged in pairs, and must be worshipped in dextral circumambulation. This is the occasional ceremony during growth, and the other is the funeral obsequies.

8       “And the shraddha for a single deceased person should be performed on the day of the death; listen to that. And it should be performed omitting the offering to tho gods, and

9 with a single vessel. And the oblations-with-fire* should not be made.in the fire without the ceremonies. And he should

* Aváhana. 

10 give one piņda to the deceased person near the fragments of food, and sesamum-seed and water on the right, accompanying them with the recollection of that person’s name. ‘May be

11 be exempt from decay,’ let the celebrant say, and may enjoyment be his,’ lot the others delighted say, at the place where the brahmans are dismissed. Men must do this overy month

12 for a year. Now at the expiration of the year, or whenever the ceremony is porformed by men, the śhráddha for deceased sapiņdas must be performed for him also: so tho rule is

13 stated; and that must be without the offering to the gods and accompanied with a single argha offering in a single vessel. And that ceremony must not be performed there in

14 the fire without offering the oblations-with-fire: and on the right there, he should feed tho single dvijas. 

“And there is another distinction, consisting in an extra

15 coremony every month; do thou listen attentive to me, as I tell thee of it, while it is being described. Ho should fill four vessels there with sesamum-seed, perfume and water,

16 three for the pitris, one for the deceased porgon, my son And he should scatter the arghya-oblation in the three vessels, and in the deceased’s vessel,† uttering the words ‘Ye

†Read preta-pátre for preta-patram? 

17 samáná’ &c., he should porform the rest as bofore. 

         “This sráddha for a single deceased person is ordained

18 precisely the same for women also. The shraddha for deceased sapiņdas does not exist for them, if they have no son. The śhráddha for a single deceased person must be performed 

19 every year for a woman by the men, duly on the day of her death, as has been here mentioned for men.

“But if there are no sons, tho sapiņdas; if they are wanting,

20 the sahodakas,* and those who may be the mother’s sapindas and those who may be the mother’s sahodakas, should duly perform this ceremony for a man who has no

*The samángdakas. 

21 son, and for one who has begotten only a daughter. The daughters and their children should in this way perform the ceremony for the maternal grandfather. But those who are designated as the sons of two such persons should worship 

22 their maternal and paternal grandfathers fittingly with the occasional śhráddhas.

“When all these relatives are wanting, the women should perform the ceremony without the mantras for their husbands;

23 when they too are wanting, the king should cause the cerermony to be performed by a member of his own family, and the cremation and all the other ceremonies to be performed

24 properly by men of that caste; for tho king indeed is kinsman to all the classes. 

“Thus these continual and occasional ceremonies have been 25 described to thoo, my child. Hear the other poriodical ceremony appertaining to tho śhráddha. The now moon is just the cause there, and the time is the moon’s waning: the fixed time indicates the constancy of that ceremony.”