Sâṅkhâyana-Grihya-Sûtra: Adhyâya III

Khanda 1

1. A bath (shall be taken by the student) when he is going to return home (from his teacher).

2¹. 'A bull's hide'—this has been declared. On that hide he makes him sit down and have his hair and beard cut and the hair of the body and the nails.

3. Having had (the cut-off hair-ends, &c.) thrown away together with rice and barley, with sesamum-seed and mustard-seed, with Apâmârga and Sadâpushpî flowers,

4². Having sprinkled him (with water) with the Âpohishthîyâ-hymn (Rig-veda X, 9),

5. Having adorned him,

6. Having dressed him with two garments with (the verse), 'The garments both of you' (Rig-veda I, 152, 1),

7. He then puts on him a golden ornament (with the words), 'Giving life and vigour' (Vâgasaneyi Samhitâ XXXIV, 50).

8. With (the verse), 'Mine, Agni, be vigour' (Rig-veda X, 128, 1), the veiling (of the head is done).

9. With (the verse), 'House by house the shining one' (Rig-veda I, 123, 4) (he takes) the parasol,

10. With (the verse), 'Rise up' (Rig-veda X, 18, 6), the shoes,

11. With (the verse), 'Long be thy hook' (Rig-veda VIII, 17, 10) he takes a bamboo staff.

12³. Let him sit that day in solitude.

13. With (the verses), 'O tree! with strong limbs,' and, 'A ruler indeed' (Rig-veda VI, 47, 26; X, 152, 1) let him mount the chariot.

14. (Before returning home) let him first approach a place where they will perform Argha for him with a cow or a goat.

15. Or let him return (making his start) from cows or from a fruit-bearing tree.

16. With (the verses), 'Indra, give us best goods,' and, 'Be friendly, O earth' (Rig-veda II, 21, 6; I, 22, 15) he descends (from the chariot).

17. Let him eat that day his favourite food.

18⁴. To his teacher he shall give (that) pair of garments, the turban, ear-rings and jewel, staff and shoes, and the parasol.

Khanda 2

1⁵. If he wishes to have a house built, he draws with an Udumbara branch three times a line round (the building-ground) with (the words), 'Here I include the dwellings for the sake of food,' and sacrifices in (its) centre on an elevated spot,

2. (With the texts,) 'Who art thou? Whose art thou? To whom do I sacrifice thee, desirous of (dwelling in the) village? Svâhâ!

'Thou art the gods' share on this (earth). From here have sprung the fathers who have passed away. The ruler has sacrificed, desirous of (dwelling in the) village, not omitting anything that belongs to the gods. Svâhâ!'

3. Having had the pits for the posts dug,

4. He pours water-gruel into them,

5. And with (the verse), 'This branch of the immortal one I erect, a stream of honey, promoting wealth. The child, the young one, cries to it; the cow shall low to it, the unceasingly fertile one'—he puts an Udumbara branch which has been besmeared with ghee into the pit for the right door-post.

6. 'This branch of the world I establish, a stream of honey, promoting wealth. The child, the young one, cries to it; the cow shall low to it that has a young calf'—thus to the left.

7. In the same way at the two (pits) to the south, to the west, and to the north.

8. With (the verse), 'This branch of this tree, that drops ghee, I erect in the immortal. The child, the young one, cries to it; cows shall flock to it, unceasingly fertile ones'—he erects the chief post.

9⁶. 'May the young child come to it, may the calf . . . .; may they come to it with a cup of Parisrut, with pots of curds.

Khanda 3

1⁷. 'Stand here, O post, firm, rich in horses and cows, . . . .; stand safely, dropping ghee; stand here, fixed in the ground, prosperous, long-lasting(?), amid the prosperity of people who satiate themselves. May the malevolent ones not reach thee!

'Hither are called the cows; hither are called goats and sheep; and the sweet essence (?) of food is called hither to our house.

'Stand fast in the Rathantara; recline on the Vâmadevya; establish thyself on the Brihat'—with (these texts) he touches the chief post.

2. When the house has been built conformably (to its proper dimensions), he touches the posts.

3. The two (posts) to the east with (the words), 'Truth and faith!'

4. Those to the south with (the words), 'Sacrifice and gift!'

5. Those to the west with (the words), 'Strength and power!'

6. Those to the north with (the words), 'The Brahman and the Kshatra!

7⁸. 'Fortune the pinnacle, law the chief post!

8. 'Day and night the two door jambs!'

9. 'The year the roof!'

10. With (the verse), 'A bull, an ocean' (Rig-veda V, 47, 3)' let him bury an anointed stone under the pinnacle.

Khanda 4

1⁹. At the sacrifice to Vâstoshpati—

2¹⁰. Having established the (sacred) domestic fire outside with (the words), 'I place (here) Agni with genial mind; may he be the assembler of goods. Do no harm to us, to the old nor to the young; be a saviour to us, to men and animals!'—

3. Having put a new water-pot on fresh eastward-pointed Kusa-grass,

4. And spoken over it (the words), 'Unhurt be our men, may our riches not be squandered!'—

5¹¹. He sacrifices three oblations in the forenoon with the Stotriya text of the Rathantara with repetition and Kakubh-forming;

6. (Three oblations with the Stotriya) of the Vâmadevya at midday;

7. Of the Brihat in the afternoon;

8. The four Mahâvyâhritis, the three verses, 'Vâstoshpati!' (Rig-veda VII, 54, 1-3), (the single verses,) 'Driving away calamity,' (and) 'Vâstoshpati, a firm post' (Rig-veda VII, 55, 1; VIII, 17, 14), and to (Agni) Svishtakrit a tenth oblation of cooked food at night.

9. Taking with himself his eldest son and his wife, carrying grain, let him enter (the house with the words),

'Indra's house is blessed, wealthy, protecting; that I enter with my wife, with offspring, with cattle, with increase of wealth, with everything that is mine.'

Khanda 5

1. 'To every able one, to every blissful one, to you I turn for the sake of safety, of peace. Free from danger may we be. May the village give me in charge to the forest. All! give me in charge to the great one,'—thus (he speaks) when leaving the village.

2. 'May the forest give me in charge to the village. Great one! give me in charge to the all'—thus (he speaks) when entering the village, not without (carrying) something (with himself, such as fuel, flowers, &c.)

3¹². I enter the blessed, joyful house, which does not bring death to men; manly (I enter) that which is rich in men. Bringing refreshment, dropping ghee (we enter the house) in which I shall joyfully rest'—this verse is constantly to be pronounced (when he enters the house).

Khanda 6

1. One who has not set up the (sacred Srauta) fires, when setting out on a journey, looks at his house.

2. (He murmurs the text,) 'Do ye both, Mitra and Varuna, protect this house for me; unscathed, undisturbed, may Pûshan guard it till our return;'

3. And murmurs (the verse), 'Upon the path we have entered' (Rig-veda VI, 51, 16).

Khanda 7

1. When he then returns from his journey, he looks at his house (and says),

2¹³. 'House, do not fear, do not tremble; bringing strength we come back. Bringing strength, joyful and wise, I come back to thee, to the house, rejoicing in my mind.

'That of which the traveller thinks, that in which dwells much joy, that I call the house. May it know us as we know it.

'Hither are called the cows; hither are called goats and sheep; and the sweet essence (?) of food is called hither to our house.'

3. Having approached the (sacred) domestic fire with the verse, 'This Agni is glorious to us, this is highly glorious. Worshipping him (?) may we suffer no harm; may he bring us to supremity'—

4. Let him pronounce auspicious words.

5¹⁴. When accepting the water for washing the feet he says, 'The milk of Virâg art thou; may I obtain the milk of Virâg; in me (may) the milk of Padyâ Virâg (dwell)!'

Khanda 8

1¹⁵. When one who has not set up the (sacred Srauta) fires, is going to partake of the first-fruits (of the harvest), let him sacrifice to the Âgrayana deities with (Agni) Svishtakrit as the fourth, and with the word SVÂHÂ, on his (sacred) domestic fire.

2. Having recited over (the food) which he is going to eat (the formula), 'To Pragâpati I draw thee, the proper portion, for luck to me, for glory to me, for food to me!'—

3¹⁶. He thrice eats of it, sprinkling it with water, with (the verse), 'From the good you have led us to the better, ye gods! Through thee, the nourishment, may we obtain thee. Thus enter into us, O potion, bringing refreshment; be a saviour to us, to men and animals!'

4. With (the verse), 'This art thou, breath; the truth I speak This art thou; from all directions thou hast entered (into all beings). Thou driving away old age and sickness from my body be at home with me. Do not forsake us, Indra!'—he touches the place of the heart;

5. With (the words), 'The navel art thou; do not fear; the knot of the breathing powers art thou; do not loosen thyself,' (he touches) the navel;

6. With the verse, 'Bliss with our ears' (Rig-veda I, 89, 8), (lie touches) the limbs as stated (in that verse);

7. Worshipping the sun with the verse, 'Yonder eye' (Rig-veda VII, 66, 16).

Khanda 9

1¹⁷. 'May the noisy (goddesses) keep you away from slaughtering hosts. May the entire share, O cows, that belongs to this lord of cows, suffer no harm among you—(and)

'May Pûshan go after our cows' (Rig-veda VI, 54, 5)—this he shall speak over the cows when they go away (to their pasture-grounds).

2. 'May Pûshan hold' (Rig-veda VI, 54, 10), when they run about.

3. 'May they whose udder with its four holes is full of sweet and ghee, be milk-givers to us; (may they be) many in our stable, rich in ghee'—and, 'The cows have come' (Rig-veda VI, 28), when they have come back.

4. The last (verse) when he puts them in (into the stable).

5. The hymn, 'Refreshing wind' (Rig-veda X, 169), (he recites over the cows), when they are gone into the stable.

Khanda 10

1. The new moon that follows after the Phâlguna full moon, falls under (the Nakshatra) Revatî: on that (new moon day) he shall have the marks made (on his cattle),

2¹⁸. With (the words), 'Thou art the world, thousandfold prospering. To Indra may exertion (?) give thee. Inviolate art thou, unhurt, sap, food, protection. For as many (cows) I shall do this now, for more (than these) may I do it in the latest year.'

3. Of that (cow) that calves first let him sacrifice the biestings with the two verses, 'Yearly the milk of the cow' (Rig-veda X, 87, 17. 18).

4. If she brings forth twin-calves, let him sacrifice with the Mahâvyâhritis, and give the mother of the twins (to the Brâhmanas).

Khanda 11

1¹⁹. Now (follows) the Vrishotsarga (i.e. setting a bull at liberty).

2. On the Kârttika full moon day or on that day of the Âsvayuga (month) that falls under (the Nakshatra) Revatî—

3. He sacrifices, after having kindled amid the cows a well-inflamed fire, Âgya oblations (with the words),

4. Here is delight; take delight here. Svâhâ! Here is still-standing; here is (your) own still-standing. Svâhâ!

'I have let the calf join its mother. May the calf, sucking its mother's breast, support increase of wealth among us. Svâhâ!'

5. With the verse, 'May Pûshan go after our cows' (Rig-veda VI, 54, 5) he sacrifices from (a mess of sacrificial food) belonging to Pûshan.

6²⁰. Having murmured the Rudra-(hymns),

7. (He takes) a one-coloured, two-coloured, or three-coloured (bull),

8. Or one that protects the herd,

9. Or that is protected by the herd,

10. Or it may also be red.

11. It should have all its limbs complete, and be the finest (bull) in the herd.

12. Having adorned that (bull),

13. And the four best young cows of the herd, having adorned those too,

14²¹. (He says,) 'This young (bull) I give you as your husband; sporting with him, your lover, walk about. Do not desert us (?), being joined (with us) from your birth. In increase of wealth, in food may we rejoice. Svâhâ!'

15. When (the bull) is in the midst (of the cows), he recites over (them), 'Refreshing,' &c. (Rig-veda X, 169, I seq.) down to the end of the Anuvâka.

16. With the milk of all of them he shall cook milk-rice and feed Brâhmanas with it.

Khanda 12

1²². After the Âgrahâyanî (or the full moon day of the month Mârgasîrsha) (follow) the three Ashtakâs in the second fortnight (of the Mârgasîrsha and of the two following months).

2. At the first of these he sacrifices vegetables,

3²³. With (the verse), 'She who shone forth first is this (earth); she walks, having entered into this (earth). The wife has brought forth (children), the new-creating mother. May the three powers follow her. Svâhâ!'

4. Now (the oblation for Agni) Svishtakrit,

5²⁴. With (the verses), 'She in whom Yama, the son of Vivasvat, and all gods are contained, the Ashtakâ whose face is turned to all sides, she has satiated my desires.

'They call thy teeth "the pressing-stones;" thy udder is (Soma) Pavamâna; . . . . are the months and half-months. Adoration to thee, O glad-faced one! Svâhâ!'

Khanda 13

1²⁵. At the middle (Ashtakâ) and in the middle of the rainy season,

2. The four Mahâvyâhritis (and) the four (verses), They who have thirsted' (Rig-veda X, 15, 9 seq.): having quickly recited (these verses) he shall sacrifice the omentum;

3. Or (he shall do so) with the verse, 'Carry the omentum, Gâtavedas, to the Manes, where thou knowest them in the world of virtue. May streams of fat flow to them; may the wishes of the sacrificer be fulfilled. Svâhâ!'

4. (Then follow) the four Mahâvyâhritis (and) the four (verses), 'They who have thirsted' (see Sûtra 2): (thus is offered) an eightfold oblation of cooked food, together with the cut-off portions.

5²⁶. Or, 'Interposed are the mountains; interposed is the wide earth to me. With the sky and all the points of the horizon I interpose another one instead of the father. To N.N. svâhâ!

'Interposed to me are the seasons, and days and nights, the twilight's children. With the months and half-months I interpose another one instead of the father. To N.N. svâhâ!

'With the standing ones, with the streaming ones. with the small ones that flow about: with the waters, the supporters of all I interpose another one instead of the father. To N.N. svâhâ!

'Wherein my mother has done amiss, going astray, faithless to her husband, that sperm may my father take as his own; may another one fall off from the mother. To N.N. svâhâ!'—these four (verses) instead of the Mahâvyâhritis, if (the sacrificer) is an illegitimate child.

6. Or milk-rice (should be offered).

7²⁷. On the next day the Anvashtakya ceremony (i.e. ceremony following the Ashtakâ) in accordance with the rite of the Pindapitriyagña.

Khanda 14

1. On the last (Ashtakâ) he sacrifices cakes,

2. With the words, 'The Ukthya and the Atirâtra. the Sadyahkrî together with the metre—Ashtakâ! Preparer of cakes! Adoration to thee, O glad-faced one. Svâhâ!

3²⁸. A cow or a goat is the animal (to be sacrificed), or a mess of cooked food (should be offered).

4. Or he may optionally offer food to a cow.

5²⁹. Or he may optionally burn down brushwood in the forest and say, 'This is my Ashtakâ.'

6. But let him not neglect to do (one of these things). But let him not neglect to do (one of these things).

Here ends the Third Adhyâya.

Footnotes

1. Comp. above, I, 16, 1, and the note there.

2. Nârâyana says here, enam mânavakam abhishikya abhishekam snânam kârayitvâ. Comp. Pâraskara II, 6, 9 seq.

3. Pratilîna evidently means the same thing that is so often expressed in the Buddhist texts by patisallîna.

4. The pair of garments are those referred to in Sûtra 6; on the turban see Sûtra 8. On staff and shoes comp. Sûtras 10, 11; on the parasol, Sûtra 9.

5. On the house of the Vedic Indians, comp. Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, pp. 148 seqq.

6. On parisrut, see Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, p. 281. The words bhuvanas pari give no sense; Pâraskara probably gives the true reading, â vatso gagadaih saha (III, 4, 4; comp. Sûtra 8: Vasûms ka Rudrân Âdityân Îsânam gagadaih saha; gagada is explained in Gayarâma's commentary by anuga, anukara). The word gagada of course was exposed to all sorts of corruptions; thus the text of Âsvalâyana has gâyatâm saka; the Atharva-veda (III, 12, 7) gagatâ saha; and from this gagat to the bhuvana found in our text the way is not very long.

7. According to Nârâyana the verse given in chap. 2, 9 forms one Mantra with those in 3, 1. The meaning of sîlamâvatî is uncertain. The word reoccurs in Rig-veda X, 75, 8. Pâraskara (III, 4, 4) has sûnritâvatî. On tilvila, comp. Rig-veda V, 62, 7. The following word is quite uncertain both as to its reading and its meaning. Comp. p. 143 seq. of the German edition. On kîlâla, comp. Zimmer, loc. cit. p. 281.

8. Comp. Pâraskara III, 4, 18.

9. The sacrifice to Vâstoshpati is celebrated when the sacrificer enters his new house.

10. Comp. above, I, 7, 9.

11. On the way of reciting a Pragâtha, so as to form three verses, see Indische Studien, VIII, 25; Zeitschrift der deutschen Morg. Gesellschaft, XXXVIII, 476. The Stotriya of the Rathantara is Rig-veda VII, 32, 22 seq.; that of the Vâmadevya, IV, 31, 1-3; that of the Brihat, VI, 46, 1 seq.

12. For anyeshv aham we should read perhaps yeshv aham. Âsvalâyana-Sraut. II, 5, 17 has teshv aham.

13. On kîlâla, see chap. 3, 1.

14. Padyâ virâg is the Virâg metre, so far as it consists of Pâdas; in this connection, of course, the phrase is intended besides to convey the meaning of 'the splendour which dwells in the feet.' Comp. Pâraskara I, 3, 12 and Professor Stenzler's note there. My German translation of this Sûtra of Sâṅkhâyana rests on a misunderstanding.

15. The Âgrayaneshti is the corresponding rite of the Srauta ritual. Comp. Indische Studien, X, 343. The deities of that sacrifice are Indra and Agni; the Visve devâs; Heaven and Earth.

16. In the text read for tvayâ gvasena, tvayâऽvasena.

17. The noisy ones are the winds; comp. the passage of Sâṅkhâyana-Srauta-sûtra, quoted p. 144 of the German edition.

18. The reading of tvâ sramo dadat is doubtful. See the Various Readings in the German edition.

19. A part of this chapter is nearly identical with the corresponding section of the Kâthaka-grihya; see Jolly's article, Das Dharma-sûtra des Vishnu, &c. (Sitzung der philos. philol. Classe der Bairischen Academie, 7 Juni, 1879), p. 39. Comp. also Pâraskara III, 9; Vishnu LXXXVI, and Jolly's remarks, in Deutsche Rundschau X, p. 428.

20. Rig-veda I, 43. 114; II, 33; VII, 46.

21. The translation 'do not desert us,' rests on the conjecture mâvasthâta; see the Various Readings, and the note on p. 245 of the German edition.

22. On the Ashtakâ festivals, of which some texts reckon three, while others have four, comp. Weber, Naxatra (second article), pp. 337, 341 seq.; Bühler, S.B.E., II, p. 214; Ludwig, Rig-veda, vol. iv, pp. 424 seq.; Atharva-veda III, 10. The last Ashtakâ, which is celebrated in the dark fortnight of Mâgha, is called Ekâshtakâ; this Ashtakâ is called the 'wife of the year,' 'the image of the year,' 'the disposer of the days.' If the Phâlguna month is reckoned as the first of the year, this Ashtakâ precedes the year's beginning only by a few days; there are also some Vedic passages which point to the Ekâshtakâ's following shortly after the beginning of the year; see Weber, loc. cit., p. 342.

23. Instead of navakrit the parallel texts (except the Mantrabrâhmana II, 2, 12) have navagat, which is explained by nûtanavivâhavatî (Ludwig, loc. cit.); the 'three powers' are understood by Mâdhava (in the commentary on Taitt. Samh. IV, 3, 11) as Agni, Sûrya, and Kandra.

24. After pavamânah there is evidently a word wanting that indicated the limb of the Ashtakâ's body identified with the months and half-months.

25. On madhyâvarsha, comp. Weber, loc. cit., pp. 331, 337. Nârâyana understands not 'in the middle of the rainy season,' but 'in the middle of the year' (see his note, p. 146 of the German edition). I cannot help thinking that the word madhyâvarshe, given by the MSS. here and in Pâraskara III, 3, 13, and explained by Nârâyana, is a corrupt reading which we should correct into mâghyavarshe ('the festival celebrated during the rainy season under the Nakshatra Maghâs'), or something like that. The MSS. of Âsvalâyana-Grihya II, 5, 9 have mâghyâvarsham, mâghâvarsham, mâdhyâvarsham. Vishnu (LXXVI, 1, comp. LXXVIII, 52, and Professor Jolly's note, Sacred Books of the East, VII, p. 240) mentions 'the three Ashtakâs, the three Anvashtakâs, a Mâgha day which falls on the thirteenth of the dark half of the month Praushthapada.' Comp. Manu III, 273, varshâsu ka maghâsu ka; Yâgñavalkya I, 260.

26. Instead of 'N.N.' (the text has the feminine amushyai) the sacrificer inserts the name of his mother. For mâsâs, ardhamâsâs I propose to read, mâsais, ardhamâsais.

27. On Anvashtakya, comp. Bühler, S.B.E., XIV, p. 55; Jolly. loc. cit., p. 59.

28. This is one of the passages which the author has taken unchanged from a more ancient Sûtra; see Âsv. II, 4, 8-11; Gobhila IV, 1 (end of the chapter). The Sûtras do not refer, as their position would seem to indicate, to the third, but to the second Ashtakâ.

29. Comp. Weber, loc. cit., p. 342, note 1.