Praśna 3, Kaṇḍikā 9

1. Or it should end with the śaṃyuvāka.

2. If the Adhvaryu has to end it with the śaṃyuvāka, he should take a darbha-blade out of the veda, besmear its end into the Juhū, the middle part into the spoon, and the root into the vessel of clarified butter.

3. The procedure to be followed with regard to it should be the same as was adopted with regard to the prastara.^[1]

4. The Adhvaryu should put the cuttings of the faggot on the Anvāhārya-pacana fire, and offer the oblations of the scrap of the dough and chaff of grains.^[2]

5. He should take up four spoonfuls of clarified butter into the Juhū, pour out the chaff of grains into it, and offer the same with the formula, “O Agni, with life unhurt, with no cool body, guard me this day from the sky, guard me from bondage, guard me from error in sacrifice, guard from evil food, guard from ill deed, svāhā.”^[3]

6. He should offer the scrap of the dough^[4] through clarified butter itself with the verse, “I unite the drops, big and small, which have stuck up in the mortar, to the pestle, to the winnowing basket, on the lower crushing stone, and to the potsherd. May Viśve Devas approve of this oblation. The many drops which are in the sacrifice—I offer them all on the fire well offered and well put.”^[5]

7. The Hotṛ should throw the veda on the lap of the sacrificer’s wife three times with the formulas, “Thou art the veda, thou art gain, may I gain; thou art action, thou art acting, may I act; thou art a gift, thou art a procurer, may I procure.”^[6]

8. The sacrificer’s wife should throw at him each time the veda, thrown by the Hotṛ, with the formula, “Drive away the enemy, drive away the evil spirit.”^[7]

9. Or the veda is thrown by the sacrificers’ wife herself on her lap.

10. She gives birth to a male child. So is it said.^[8]

11. At this stage some teachers prescribe the unfastening of the (girdle round the waist of the) sacrifices’ wife.^[9]

12. The Hotṛ should go strewing (the blades in) the veda up to the Āhavanīya fire with the remaining portion of the Anuvāka, “May the veda bestow increase of wealth, rich in ghee, rich in houses, a thousandfold, and strong.”^[10]

13. At this stage some teachers prescribe the offering of the oblation pertaining to the parvan.^[11]

14. He should offer sarvaprāyaścitta oblations^[12] by means of the spoon.^[13] So is it said.^[14]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

III.5.14.

[2]:

I.22.12.

[3]:

Taittirīya-saṃhitā I.1.13.1.

[4]:

Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra III.10.1 prescribes that the oblations of chaff of grains and scrap of dough might optionally be offered in a reverse order.

[5]:

Taittirīya-brāhmaṇa III.7.6.21.

[6]:

Taittirīya-saṃhitā I.6.4.1.

[7]:

cf. Maitrāyaṇī-saṃhitā I.4.3.

[8]:

The source of this passage is not traced.

[9]:

III.12.7.

[10]:

Taittirīya-saṃhitā I.6.4.4. Instead of this verse, Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra III.10,5 employs the verse-half, “Stretching the thread through the atmosphere, do thou reach the sun and guard the shining paths fashioned by prayer.” (Taittirīya-saṃhitā III.4.2.2.)

[11]:

II.1.15.

[12]:

With the formulas, bhūḥ svāhā, bhuvaḥ svāhā, and suvaḥ svāhā.

[13]:

By means of the spoon or the Juhū. Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra III.11.1.

[14]:

The source of this passage is not traced.