Viswamitra was a kshatriya. So he had no right to convene a sacrifice. Performing and convening sacrifice, learning and teaching as also charity and acceptance charity are exclusive privileges of brahmins.
Apastamba: ‘Performing or convening a sacrifice is the duty of brahmin priests’.
Bodhayana: ‘Priests who perform or convene a sacrifice are brahmins’.
Gautama: Brahmins only should perform and convene sacrifices. Mantras also confirm it as in ‘Brahmananam----asti’ meaning, ‘only brahmins can partake in this oblation. There is nothing here that goes to a non-brahmin’.
Sumantu: ‘A priest performing a sacrifice for a Sudra can rid off his sin by repudiating all the monetary gains’. ‘An accused, a sinner, son of a remarried widow, killer of an infant, a harlot, a manufacturer of weapons, a dealer in oil, a potter, a vendor of liquor, a goldsmith, a painter, a gambler, a money-lender, a person bought for a large sum, a juggler, a hunter, a tribal, a man washer, a ‘buruda’ (whose profession is to deal with bamboos), a cobbler are people from whom one must not accept food or donation and for whom a sacrifice must not be performed’.
Vasishta: ‘The performer of a sacrifice (for a Sudra) is purified by rejecting the fees’.
Manu: ‘Families of those who perform sacrifices for the unauthorized, who perform rites without faith and without chanting the prescribed mantras’ perish in no time. [Manu. III-65]
Bodhayana: ‘If a priest receives excessive donations from one who has a lot of wealth to offer or receives any gift from one who is unauthorized to offer pious gifts or if he performs a sacrifice for them, he should, without taking food or after taking food recite ‘tarat samandiyam---etc.’
Ashvalayana: ‘If one co-habits with a woman forbidden by pious law, if he receives donations from one who is not authorized to offer donations and if one performs a sacrifice for one who is not authorized to perform it, he should repeatedly mutter the three riks starting with, ‘Punarmam-----etc.’.
This clearly suggests that gods are pleased only with such sacrifice which is performed by an authorized person, and convened by guileless priests with pure materials and means. Shruiti-‘Shuchimadhvaram----pavakah’. ‘Gods are pleased with a holy sacrifice. Gods long for holiness and are holy themselves.
The dialogue between Tarkshya and Sarasvati in Vana of the Mahabharata :‘Na chashuchi---agnihotram’ i.e. ‘ An unholy person, one who has not washed his hands, one who is ignorant of the mantras and one without learning must not offer an oblation. Hungry gods long for holiness. They do not accept oblation at the hands of a non-believer. A person who has not learnt the Vedas must not be engaged for offering oblation to gods.
Food from a chandala is unholy 1.59.14, 15
Parashara-‘Bhunkte---shudhyati’: ‘If for some reason a brahmin eats food offered by a chandala due to ignorance, he is sanctified after ten nights on taking only barley and cow’s urine for food. He who eats food from the lowly born willingly must however observe the chandrayana or the Taptakrichhra vow. A brahmin who drinks water from a well dug by a chandala or eats food offered by him out of ignorance is sanctified by a day and a night’.
Apastamba: ‘Tattoyam---akarot’: ‘a brahmin who drinks water from a Chandala willingly is sanctified by eating only by night and after a day and a night if he drinks it unwillingly.
‘On who drinks water from a well polluted by the touch of a chandala’s pot is sanctified after three nights by eating barley and cow’s urine for food. But a brahmin who drinks water stored in the pot of a chandala but immediately emits it must observe the Prajapatya vow. But if he does not throw it out and the water is digested in the body he should not be allowed to observe Prajapatya. He should be instead asked to observe the Santapan Kricchra.
Right of convening a sacrifice 1.59.13-15
Viswamitra was a kshatriya. So he had no right to convene a sacrifice. Performing and convening sacrifice, learning and teaching as also charity and acceptance charity are exclusive privileges of brahmins.
Apastamba: ‘Performing or convening a sacrifice is the duty of brahmin priests’.
Bodhayana: ‘Priests who perform or convene a sacrifice are brahmins’.
Gautama: Brahmins only should perform and convene sacrifices. Mantras also confirm it as in ‘Brahmananam----asti’ meaning, ‘only brahmins can partake in this oblation. There is nothing here that goes to a non-brahmin’.
Sumantu: ‘A priest performing a sacrifice for a Sudra can rid off his sin by repudiating all the monetary gains’. ‘An accused, a sinner, son of a remarried widow, killer of an infant, a harlot, a manufacturer of weapons, a dealer in oil, a potter, a vendor of liquor, a goldsmith, a painter, a gambler, a money-lender, a person bought for a large sum, a juggler, a hunter, a tribal, a man washer, a ‘buruda’ (whose profession is to deal with bamboos), a cobbler are people from whom one must not accept food or donation and for whom a sacrifice must not be performed’.
Vasishta: ‘The performer of a sacrifice (for a Sudra) is purified by rejecting the fees’.
Manu: ‘Families of those who perform sacrifices for the unauthorized, who perform rites without faith and without chanting the prescribed mantras’ perish in no time. [Manu. III-65]
Bodhayana: ‘If a priest receives excessive donations from one who has a lot of wealth to offer or receives any gift from one who is unauthorized to offer pious gifts or if he performs a sacrifice for them, he should, without taking food or after taking food recite ‘tarat samandiyam---etc.’
Ashvalayana: ‘If one co-habits with a woman forbidden by pious law, if he receives donations from one who is not authorized to offer donations and if one performs a sacrifice for one who is not authorized to perform it, he should repeatedly mutter the three riks starting with, ‘Punarmam-----etc.’.
This clearly suggests that gods are pleased only with such sacrifice which is performed by an authorized person, and convened by guileless priests with pure materials and means. Shruiti-‘Shuchimadhvaram----pavakah’. ‘Gods are pleased with a holy sacrifice. Gods long for holiness and are holy themselves.
The dialogue between Tarkshya and Sarasvati in Vana of the Mahabharata :‘Na chashuchi---agnihotram’ i.e. ‘ An unholy person, one who has not washed his hands, one who is ignorant of the mantras and one without learning must not offer an oblation. Hungry gods long for holiness. They do not accept oblation at the hands of a non-believer. A person who has not learnt the Vedas must not be engaged for offering oblation to gods.
Food from a chandala is unholy 1.59.14, 15
Parashara-‘Bhunkte---shudhyati’: ‘If for some reason a brahmin eats food offered by a chandala due to ignorance, he is sanctified after ten nights on taking only barley and cow’s urine for food. He who eats food from the lowly born willingly must however observe the chandrayana or the Taptakrichhra vow. A brahmin who drinks water from a well dug by a chandala or eats food offered by him out of ignorance is sanctified by a day and a night’.
Apastamba: ‘Tattoyam---akarot’: ‘a brahmin who drinks water from a Chandala willingly is sanctified by eating only by night and after a day and a night if he drinks it unwillingly.
‘On who drinks water from a well polluted by the touch of a chandala’s pot is sanctified after three nights by eating barley and cow’s urine for food. But a brahmin who drinks water stored in the pot of a chandala but immediately emits it must observe the Prajapatya vow. But if he does not throw it out and the water is digested in the body he should not be allowed to observe Prajapatya. He should be instead asked to observe the Santapan Kricchra.