Talk:Who is an Atithi and who is Not

By Vishal Agarwal

The category of Atithi includes learned Brāhmaṇas, students, ascetics, tired and unknown travelers and other strangers, needy, poor and so on.

A tired traveler coming from a great distance who has never visited one’s home before and who shows up at the time of the Balivaishvadeva is considered an Atithi. Parāshara Smriti 1.41

A Brāhmaṇa who stays only one night is declared to be a guest (atithi); because he stays (sthita) not long (anityam), he is called atithi (a guest). Manusmriti 3.102

But one’s acquaintances, friends, close relatives or those in one’s own community are not considered as Atithi-s. Nor are they who talk sweet to subsist on the hospitality of others.

One should not treat a resident of one’s own village as an Atithi, because an Atithi is called so by virtue of the fact that the host has never met him before. Parāshara Smriti 1.42

One must not consider as a guest a Brāhmaṇa who dwells in the same village, nor one who seeks his livelihood by social intercourse, even though he has come to a house where (there is) a wife, and where sacred fires are kept. Manusmriti 3.103

One’s dependents and those inferior to oneself in rank are also not regarded as Atithi-s.