Chapter X. Madhuparka and Other Usages
Volume II: Part I pp. 542–549
This chapter meticulously examines the concept of Madhuparka, a significant ritual offering in ancient Hindu tradition. The detailed procedure for its execution, encompassing various stages and constituents, is primarily elucidated through a careful analysis of the ancient *sūtras* texts. These foundational Dharmaśāstra works provide the authoritative guidelines for its preparation and presentation. Beyond Madhuparka, the discourse extends to other distinct usages and customs, beginning with *Arkavivāha*. This unique practice involves a ritualistic marriage with the *arka* plant, often performed under specific astrological or social circumstances as a form of symbolic union or remedy. The chapter further delves into the intricacies of *Parivedana*, a concept referring to the social and ritual implications when a younger sibling marries before an elder brother or sister. This arrangement, often viewed with disapprobation in classical Hindu jurisprudence, carries specific social ramifications and, at times, prescribed *prāyaścitta*.
— Synopsis by P.V. Kane, from History of Dharmaśāstra
Chapter X. Madhuparka and Other Usages
MADHUPARKA AND OTHER USAGES Madhuparka : ( offering of honey by way of honour to a distinguished guest ). The word literally means ‘ a ceremony in which honey is shed or poured ’ ( on the hand of a person ). The word occurs in the Jaiminiya Upaniṣad-Brāhmaṇa 1 18. 4. The Nirukta ( I. 16 ) also refers to the usage of offering madhu-parka with the word madhuparka repeated thrice. It appears that the Ait. Br. III. 4 when it says that ‘ if the ruler of men comes as a guest or any one else deserving of honour comes, people kill a bull or a cow ( that has contracted a habit of abortion ) ’ refers to Madhuparka, 2 though that word is not actually useḍ In all gṛhya sūtras it is described at length. Most of the details are the same, the principal difference being that often different mantras are prescribed, though some ( like the verse ‘ mātā rudrāṇām ’ ) are the same. The madhuparka 3 is offered to ṛtviks ( priests officiating at sacrifices ) when they are chosen for a sacrifice, to a snātaka who has come to one’s house, to the king ( who rules one’s country, when he comes to one’s house ), to one’s ācārya, father-in-law, paternal and maternal uncleṣ The Mānava gr. ( I. 9. 1 ), Khādira gr. IV. 4. 21, Yāj. I. 110 say that six persons deserve arghya ( madhuparka ) viz. ṛtvik, ācārya, the bridegroom, the king, the snātaka and a person who is dear to one. Some like Bauḍ 4 gr. I. 2. 65 add ‘ atithi ’ ( guest ). Vide Gaut. V. 25, Āp. gr. 13. 19-20, Āp. Dh. S. II. 3. 8. 5-6, Bauḍ Dh. S. II. 3. 63-64, Manu III. 119, Sabhāparva 36. 23–24, Gobhila gr. IV. 10. 23–24. It is laid down that if the persons enumerated come to one’s house within a year after madhuparka has been once offered, then it need not be offered again (in the same year), but when a marriage is being celebrated in one’s house or a yajña is being performed, then madhuparka must be offered to those persons (even if one year has not elapsed since the madhu- parka was previously offered). Vide Gaut. V. 26–27, Āp. Dh. S. II. 3. 8. 6, Yāj. I. 110, Khādira gr. IV. 4. 26, Gobhila gr. IV. 10. 26. Ṛtviks are to be honoured in each yajña, even though several yajñas are performed in the same year (Yāj. I. 110). Manu (III. 120) says that a king and a snātaka are to be honoured with madhuparka only when they visit one’s house in a yajña. Viśvarūpa (on Yāj. I. 109) says that madhuparka is to be offered to the king only and not to any kṣatriya. Medhātithi on Manu III. 119 says that when a king, whether a kṣatriya or not, comes to one’s place madhu- parka was to be offered, but not to a śūdra king. According to gṛhya-pariśiṣṭa the madhuparka is to be performed according to the rites prescribed in the śākhā of the receiver and not of the giver.5
The procedure of madhuparka is set out from the Āśv. gr.6 (I. 24. 5–26) “ He pours honey into curds or clarified butter if no honey can be haḍ A seat,7 water for washing the feet, arghya water (i. e. water perfumed with flowers &c.), water for ācamana, honey mixture, a cow; every one of these they announce three times (to the person who has arrived). The person (to be honoured) should sit down on the seat made of darbha grass with the verse8 ‘I am the highest one among my kindred, as the sun among lights (lightnings). Here I tread on whomsoever bears enmity to me.’ Or he should repeat this verse after he has trodden on it. He should make (the host) wash his feet; the right foot he should hold out first to a brāhmaṇa (for washing) and the left to a śūdra. When his feet have been washed, he receives the arghya water in his joined hands and then he performs ācamana with the water for sipping with the formula 'thou art the seat (or first layer) of ambrosia'.9 He should look at the madhuparka, when it is being brought to him, with the mantra 'I look at thee with the eye of Mitra'. He accepts it (the madhuparka) in the joined hands with the formula 'by the command (urging) of god Savitṛ, by the arms of Aśvins and the hands of Pūṣan, I accept thee' (Vāj S. I. 24). He looks at it with the three ṛk verses 10 'the winds blow honey to the righteous man' (Rg. I. 90. 6-8). He (takes it into his left hand), stirs it about thrice from left to right with the thumb and the finger next to the smallest and wipes (his fingers) towards the east with the formula 'may the Vasus eat thee with the Gāyatrī metre'; with the formula 'may the Rudras eat thee with the Triṣṭubh metre' (he wipes fingers) towards the south; with the formula 'may the Ādityas eat thee with the Jagatī metre' towards the west; with the formula 'may Viśve Devas eat thee with the Anuṣṭubh metre' towards the north; with the formula 'to the bhūtas (beings) thee' he three times takes (some of the madhuparka materials) from out of the middle of it (and throws it up). He should partake of it for the first time with the formula 11, 'the milk of Virāj art thou', for the second time with 'may I obtain the milk of Virāj', the third time with 'in me may the milk of Padyā Virāj dwell'. He should not eat the whole madhuparka and should not eat to satiety. He should give the remainder (out of the madhuparka materials) to a brāhmaṇa towards the north; but if no brāhmaṇa is available he should throw it into water; or he may eat the whole. He then takes ācamana with the water intended for it with the formula 'thou art the cover of ambrosia.'12 He sips water a second time with the formula 'truth! fame! fortune! may Fortune resort to me.' When he has sipped water, they announce to him the cow. Having muttered the words 'destroyed is my sin, my sin is destroyed', he says 'om, do it' if he desires to have the cow killed; if he is desirous of letting her go, he mutters the verse 'the mother of Rudras and daughter of Vasus'13 (Rg. VIII. 101. 15) and says 'let her go'. Let the madhuparka not be without flesh."
A few small matters may be noteḍ Several grhya-sūtras (such as the Mānava) describe madhuparka as a part of the marriage rite, while others like Āśv. describe it independently. Others like Hir. gr. (I. 12-13) describe it as part of Samāvartana There is divergence about the substances mixed in offering madhuparka. Āśv. gr. and Āp. gr. (13. 10) prescribe a mixture of honey and curds or clarified butter and curdṣ Others like Pār. gr. I. 3 prescribe a mixture of three (curds, honey and butter). Āp. gr. (13. 11-12) states the view of some that those three may be mixed or five (those three with fried yava grain and barley). Hir. gr. I. 12. 10-12 gives the option of mixing three or five (curds, honey, ghee, water and ground grain). The Kauśika sūtra (92) speaks of nine kinds of mixtures viz. Brāhma (honey and curds), Aindra (of pāyasa), Saumya (curds and ghee), Pauṣṇa (ghee and mantra), Sārasvata (milk and ghee), Mauśala (wine and ghee, this being used only in Sautrāmaṇī and Rājasūya sacrifices), Vāruṇa (water and ghee), Śrāvaṇa (sesame oil and ghee), Pārivrājaka (sesame oil and oil cake). The Mānava gr. I. 9. 22 says that the Veda declares that the madhuparka must not be without flesh and so it recommends that if the cow is let loose, goat's meat or pāyasa (rice cooked in milk) may be offered; the Hir. gr. I. 13. 14 says that other meat should be offered; Bauḍ gr. says (I. 2. 51-54) that when the cow is let off, the flesh of a goat or ram may be offered or some forest flesh (of a deer &c.) may be offered as there can be no madhuparka without flesh or if one is unable to offer flesh one may cook ground grainṣ As the cow became sacred, it became unthinkable to kill her and so other flesh was offereḍ When even flesh-eating came to be abhorred, then only pāyasa and such other things were recommendeḍ The Ādiparva (60. 13-14) refers to Janamejaya's reception of Vyāsa with madhuparka and Vyāsa's letting the cow loose. This abhorrence of flesh-eating will be dealt with later oṇ In modern times there is generally no madhuparka except in marriage and then too it is a simple matter and the elaborate procedure prescribed in some of the gṛhya sūtras is hardly ever followeḍ
Certain peculiar ceremonies relating to marriage may now be described very briefly. In order to avert early widowhood (which was judged from her horoscope) for the girl to be married, a ceremony called kumbha-vivāha was performeḍ It is described in Saṁ. Pr. (p. 868), Nirṇayasindhu p. 310, Saṁ. K. (p. 746), S. R. M. (p. 528) and other workṣ On the day previous to the marriage a jar of water in which a golden image of Viṣṇu is dipped is decked with flowers &c. and the girl is surrounded in a network of threads, Varuṇa and Viṣṇu are worshipped and prayed to give long life to the intended bride-grooṃ Then the jar is taken out and broken in a pool of water and then water is sprinkled over the girl with five twigs and to the accompaniment of Ṛg. VII. 49 and then brāhmaṇas are feḍ
The Saṁ. Pr. (pp. 868-869) speaks of Aśvatthā-vivāha which is like kumbha-vivāha and performed for good luck to the bride and averting widowhooḍ Here the Aśvattha tree is substituted for the jar and a golden image of Viṣṇu is worshippeḍ The image is then given to a brāhmaṇa.
Arkavivāha: When a man has the misfortune to lose by death two wives one after another, before marrying a third wife he goes through a ceremony of marriage with the arka plant. This is described in Saṁ. Pr. pp. 876-889, Saṁ. K. p. 819, Nirṇayasindhu, p. 328. It is described in Bauḍ gṛ. śeṣasūtra V. 5 also.
Another question which takes up much space in ancient works but which is now of hardly any importance is parivedana. When a male got married before his elder brother or where a person married a younger girl before her elder sister was married, this act was called parivedana and was severely con- demned as a serious encroachment on the rights of seniority and as a siṇ Gaut. 15. 18 and Āp. Dh. S. (II. 5. 12. 22) declare that a younger brother married before an elder brother, and an elder brother married after a younger brother are sinners, and should not be invited at a śrāddha. Āp. adds that one who marries a younger sister before her elder sister is married, one who marries an elder sister after the younger sister has been married, one whose younger brother has kindled the sacred fires or offered a soma sacrifice before him (and a younger brother who kindles the sacred fires or offers soma sacrifice before his elder brother) are also equally sinful. Vaṣ Dh. S. 18, Viṣṇu Dh. S. 37. 15-17 also have similar provisions and Vaṣ Dh. S. (20. 7-10) prescribes kṛcchra penance of twenty days for the husband of the younger sister married before her elder sister and for the husband of the elder sister married after the younger one, requires each of them to offer his wife to the other for the sake of form (to remove the slur) and then to wed her again with his assent.14 Vide Bauḍ Dh. S. II. 1. 40 also. The younger brother who marries before the elder brother is called parivettā or parivividāna (Manu III. 171, Āp. Dh. S. II. 5. 12. 22) or parivindaka (Yāj. I. 223), the elder brother before whom the younger brother marries is called parivitta or parivivinna or parivitti (Manu III. 171), the younger sister who marries before the elder sister is called agredidhiṣū (Gaut. 15. 15, Vaṣ I. 18) or parivedinī, the elder sister before whom her younger sister marries is called didhiṣū. The husbands of these two last respectively bear the appellations agre-didhiṣūpati and didhiṣūpati. The father or other guardian who gives away the girl in any of these cases of parivedana is called paridāyī or paridātā. The younger brother who kindles the sacred fire before the elder is styled ‘paryādhātṛ’ and the elder brother who is so treated is called ‘paryāhita’ (Gaut. 15. 18). Manu III. 172 (which is almost the same as Bauḍ Dh. S. II. 1. 30 and Viṣṇu Dh. S. 54. 16) says that the parivettā, the parivitta, the girl whom the younger brother marries before the elder, the man who gives away the girl in marriage and the officiating priest—these five all fall into hell15 (and must perform the penance of Cāndrāyaṇa according to Viṣṇu). The Mit. on Yāj. III. 265 quotes Hārīta-dharmasūtra on this topic to the same effect. Medhātithi on Manu III. 171 refers to the view of some that if a son kindles the sacred fire before his father, the same rule applies as between brothers and then refutes that view. Aparārka p. 446 quotes Uśanas that a person may kindle sacred fires even before his father or grandfather with the latter's consent. The Trikāṇḍamaṇḍana (I. 76–77) says that there is no sin in taking agnihotra and performing a sacrifice before an elder brother and the incurring of sin is only restricted to marriage, while the Smṛtyarthasāra (p. 13) holds the opposite view that one should not kindle the Vedic fires before one's father even with the latter's consent. The Viṣṇu Dh. S. (37. 15–17) enumerates parivedana among upapātakaṣ Gāut. (18. 18–19) prescribes that if an elder brother has gone to a foreign country his younger brother must wait twelve years before he takes a wife or kindles sacred fires or six years according to some.16 There is a similar text of Vaṣ quoted by Aparārka p. 445.
In certain cases marrying or kindling sacred fires before an elder brother is not condemneḍ Medhātithi on Manu III. 171 quotes a verse ‘One need not wait where the elder brother is a lunatic, or is a sinner, or leprous, impotent, or suffering from tuberculosis’ and remarks that this is only illustrative (i. e. one need not wait where the elder brother has no adhikāra for marriage or for kindling fires)17. Vide Atri v. 105 (Anaṇ eḍ) for a similar verse. Another verse of Atri (v. 106) says that there is no blemish in marrying before the elder brother, if the latter is impotent or gone abroad, or patita or has become a recluse or is devoted to Yogāśāstra18. Vide Gobhila smṛti (I. 72–74) for similar verses (which are quoted by the Gr. R. p. 90), Trikāṇḍamaṇḍana I. 68-74, Smṛtyarthasāra p. 13 and Saṃ Pr. pp. 760–766.
The ideas about the wrong committed by a younger brother or sister marrying before an elder one reach far back into Vedic antiquity. In the Tai. Br. (III. 2. 9) there is a story that the gods transferred (rubbed off) their sin to the Āpyas and then there is a succession of persons who are all guilty of blame or sin and each preceding one among whom is said to have passed it on to each succeeding one viz. sūryābhyudita, sūryābhinim-rukta, kunakhin, śyāvādat, agredidhiṣū, parivitta, virahan, brah-mahaṇ The Vaṣ Dh. 19 S. I. 18 arranges persons called sinners (enāsvin) almost in the same order as in the Tai. Br. Here (in Tai. Br.) we have parivitta and agredidhiṣu. In another passage of the Tai. Br. (III. 4. 4) while speaking of Puruṣamedha, it is said that the parivitta is consigned as a victim to ill-luck (nir-ṛti), the parividīdāna to distress (ārti) and the didhiṣūpati to non-success (arāddhi).