atithi
“guest”
group · 2 works · 2 mentions · 3 anchored passages
beggar · guest · the guest · the learned Vedic scholar
spoken of as
1 expressionGuest“Atithi”1 mention
Atharvaveda (Paippalāda) (Sanskrit)
He who is a learned Vedic scholar — he indeed is the true atithi, the guest.
in the texts
Atharvaveda (Paippalāda)
The ritual guest (atithi), sacralized as an officiant whose reception is equated with sacrifice, and specifically defined as the learned Vedic scholar.
He who is a learned Vedic scholar — he indeed is the true atithi, the guest.
These indeed — both the beloved and the unloved — are the officiating priests who lead one to the heavenly world, namely the guests (atithis).
He who eats before the guest eats up both the iṣṭa — the fruit of sacrificial rites — and the pūrta — the fruit of works of public merit.
Parāśara Smṛti
The guest figure whose reception is treated as a sacred duty with severe penalties for neglect.
Even if he is a sinner or an outcaste (*caṇḍāla*), a slayer of a Brāhmaṇa or a patricide, if he arrives during the *Vaiśvadeva*, that *atithi* is a bridge to heaven.
The one from whose house an *atithi* turns away with his hopes shattered—his ancestors will not eat his offerings for fifteen years.
Those who are without the *Vaiśvadeva* and are excluded from hospitality to an *atithi*—they all go to hell and are born in the womb of a crow.