Agasthamba and Pitrpaksha

 

Apasthamba and Pitrpaksha

Once upon a time in the ancient city of Mahishmathi there lived a brahmin. He was learned and well versed in the scriptures and was well regarded by his fellow vedic pundits.

It was the auspicious month of the pitrus. The paksha of the month is view – ie 15 days – was considered the time when all the ancestors visit the earthly plane. It was a period when people across Bharatavarsha follow austerities like avoiding intoxicants, ate more of sattvic food and spent their time in prayers and charity. During this period, it was considered auspicious to call the brahmins home for food.

The brahmin in our story in addition to being a well sought after vedic pundit was one of the wealthy people in the city. Although the brahmin was a scholar and well read, he was not humble about his knowledge. He was very proud both of his knowledge and his money.

With the coming of ptirupaksha, the brahmin wanted to organize a shrardh in his house. He started the preparations for the shrardh. After everything was ready, he realised he had forgotten to invite any pundit. Since he was busy with the preparations, he had not noticed the passage of time. When he realised his mistake it was too late. All the nearby Vedic pundits had already finished their activities for the day and had eaten their morning meal.

A pundit cannot perform shrardh after his meal. So all the pundits told the vedic brahmin that they are unable to come to his home and perform the shrardh ceremony. After checking quite a few houses, the pundit realised that he was not able to get anyone that day for performing the shrardh and to accept the lunch and the offerings that the had so carefully kept ready.

Now he started panicking. The pundit then prayed to his ancestors, Viśvedevas and Mahāviṣṇu for help and then Āpastamba appeared before him. Apasthamba came in the form of an ordinary priest officiating for the shrardha ceremony. The pundit was overjoyed to see someone who had come to accept his food and offerings. He was very respectful and offered him water to wash his feet, new clothes and then with proper respect offered him food.

The officiating priest started eating. At first the pundit was serving him food with a lot of joy and respect. To his surprise the officiating priest continued eating. The pundit kept bringing more and more food from the kitchen but the priest continued eating. At some point, the pundits wife told him that all the food that they had cooked for the shrardh and for the rest of the household was over.

Then the couple offered the fruits available in the house. By this time, the pundit was losing respect for his guest. He thought that the man who had come to his house was some sort of a beggar. He started ignoring the request of his guest for water or food. The pundit also made it clear that he did not respect his visitor. When the visitor kept insisting for more food, the pundit got very angry. He brought a cooking vessel from inside inverted it on the banana leaf of the priest and said “ Now eat this.”

Seeing the disrespect and arrogance, the visitor got angry. It is generally believed that when we do a shrardh, the host should ask the visitor who represents the ancestor if they are satisfied. The guest representing the ancestor should reply “Thruptosmi” – I am satisfied. When the pundit disrespected him, the visitor got angry and refused to say Thruptosmi. This made the Shrardh ineffective.

This made the pundit angry as he thought that he did his best to feed the priest. The pundit got angry and raised his hands to curse him by sprinkling on his face water taken in his palm.

But before the water-particles reached his face the priest ordered the water-drops to remain still. Water stopped stiff and still midway by the power of the sage. Because water (Āpa) became stiff (Stamba) the ṛṣi was named Āpastamba. (Brahma Purāṇa).

The pundit was shocked. He realised that the priest who had come for his shrardh was no ordinary man. Only a devata or a man with extraordinary powers can control natural forces such as wind, water and fire. He fell at the feet of his visitor and asked for forgiveness.

Apasthamba smiled and told the pundit that the Gods wanted him to enact this small drama to show the world that treating adithis (visitors) with disrespect and arrogance will lead to problems and will nullify all good deeds the person may do. He also taught the pundit the importance of treating any visitor into the house as God and to treat them as one’s own ancestor during the days of pitrpaksha.

Apasthamba then blessed the pundit and left.

Apasthamba is a well known name of another rishi who lived around 500 BCE is credited with being the author of Apasthamba Kalpasutra collection. This collection is well known for its sub texts of Apasthamba Dharmasutra, Apasthamba Grihyasutra and Apasthamba Shrautasutra. These sutras contain many important information on vedic rituals. The Grihyasutras talk about the householders respponsibiliteis. The SHulbasutras that are part of this collection define temple building and the dimensions of the sacrificial fire. This formula or application is famously linked to the pythagorus theorem which was officially known much later.