Prapāṭhaka I, Kāṇḍikā 1

1.^[1] Now henceforth we shall explain the domestic sacrifices.

2. He should perform (the ceremonies) wearing the sacrificial cord on his left shoulder and having sipped water.

3. During the northern course of the sun, at the time of the increasing moon, on an auspicious day, before noon: this he should know as the (proper) time (for performing the ceremonies).

4. And as the prescription (is stated with regard to the time of the single ceremonies).

5.^[2] All (ceremonies) are accompanied by the Anvāhārya (Śrāddha).

6.^[3] At the end (of each ceremony) he should feed worthy (Brāhmaṇas) according to his ability.

7.^[4] A student, after he has studied the Veda, when going to put the last piece of wood (on the fire),—

8. Or to seize a wife's hand (i.e. to marry her),—

9.^[5] Should fetch water from a hidden place, should sweep a place which is inclined towards north-east, or which is level, and should besmear it (with cow-dung). Beginning from the centre of it he should draw a line from west to east, (another line) from south to north which touches that line at its western end, and three lines from west to east (touching the northwards-turned line at three different points) in its midst (i.e. at neither of its ends). He then should besprinkle (those lines with water).

10. In this way the Lakṣaṇa (i.e. the preparation of the place for the sacred fire) is performed everywhere.

11. With the words 'Bhūr, bhuvaḥ, svaḥ,' they carry the fire forward (to that place) so that they have it in front of them.

12.^[6] Or after the householder has died, the chief (of the family) should do it (i.e. he should set up the sacred fire).

13. In this way, on the coincidence of an (auspicious) Tithi and an (auspicious) Nakṣatra, (or of such a Nakṣatra) and a Parvan—

14. On the full-moon day or on the new-moon day: then he should celebrate the setting up of his (sacred domestic) fire.

15.^[7] He should get fire from a Vaiśya's house or from a frying-pan, and should set it up (as his sacred fire);

16. Or (he should fetch it) from the house of one who offers many sacrifices, be it a Brāhmaṇa, or a Rājanya, or a Vaiśya.

17. Or he may kindle another fire by attrition and may set it up.

18. That is pure, but it does not bring prosperity.

19. He may do what he likes (of the things stated as admissible in the last Sūtras.

20.^[8] When he puts (at the end of his studentship) the last piece of wood (on the fire), or when he sacrifices when going to seize the hand of a wife, that fire he should keep.

21. That becomes his (sacred) domestic fire.

22.^[9] Thereby his morning oblation has been offered.

23.^[10] Beginning from that time the sacrificing (of regular morning and evening oblations) in the domestic fire is prescribed, so that he begins with an evening oblation.

24. Before the time has come for setting the fire in a blaze, he should fetch in the evening and in the morning from a hidden place the water with which the different acts (such as sipping water) are performed.

25. Or (he should fetch water only) in the evening.

26. Or he should draw it out of a water-pot or of a barrel.

27.^[11] Before sunset he should set the fire in a blaze, and sacrifice the evening oblation after sunset.

28. In the morning he should set the fire in a blaze before sunrise, and should sacrifice the morning oblation before sunrise or after it.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

1, 1-4. Comp. Khādira-Gṛhya I, 1, 1. 2. 5. 7.

[2]:

I cannot give this translation of the words 'sarvāṇy evānvāhāryavanti' without expressing my doubts as to whether the commentator, whom I have followed, is right. He says: 'anu paścād āhriyate yasmāt prakṛtaṃ karma iti, anu paścād āhriyate yat prastutāt (prakṛtāt?) karmaṇa iti cānvāhāryaṃ nāndīmukhaśrāddhaṃ dakṣiṇā cocyate.' It is evident that the first explanation of anvāhārya as a ceremony after which the chief sacrifice follows, is inadmissible. Below, IV, 4, 3. 4, Gobhila himself defines the Anvāhārya Śrāddha as a monthly ceremony (comp. Manu III, 123; Max Müller, India, p. 240); it is, consequently, different from a Śrāddha accompanying each Gṛhya sacrifice. The Śloka which the commentary quotes from a 'gṛhyāntara' seems to me not to remove the doubt; I think rather that it contains a speculation based on this very passage of Gobhila, taken in the sense in p. 14 which the commentator takes it, and on the Sūtras IV, 4, 3. 4. Thus I rather believe that we ought to understand anvāhārya as a mess of food like that offered after the darśapūrṇamāsau sacrifices to the officiating priests (Hillebrandt, Neu- and Vollmondsopfer, 133), and I propose to translate: All (sacrifices) are followed by (the offering of) the Anvāhārya food (to the priest).

[3]:

Khādira-Gṛhya I, 1, 3.

[4]:

The text goes on to treat of the setting up of the domestic fire. Khādira-Gṛhya I, 3, 1.

[5]:

Khādira-Gṛhya I, 3, 1 seqq.; Gṛhya-saṃgraha I, 47 seqq.; Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenl. Gesellschaft, XXXV, 557.

[6]:

I have followed in the translation of parameṣṭhikaraṇam the p. 15 way indicated by the Gṛhya-saṃgraha I, 77, and by Śāṅkhāyana (I, 1, 5): prete vā gṛhapatau svayaṃ jyāyān. I think the parameṣṭhī is the same person as the jyāyan. The commentary gives a different explanation: parameṣṭhī agnir ity ācakṣate, tasya parameṣṭhino^ऽgneḥ karaṇaṃ yathoktena vidhinā svīkaraṇam.

[7]:

15-18. Khādira-Gṛhya I, 5, 3 seqq.

[8]:

20, 21. Khādira-Gṛhya I, 5, I. 2. Comp. also above, Sūtras 7 and 8.

[9]:

I.e. in the first of the two cases mentioned in Sūtra 20, the p. 16 putting of fuel on the fire, and in the second case, the oblations of fried grain, &c., prescribed for the wedding, are considered as the sacrificer's morning oblation in his newly-established Gṛhya fire, so that the regular oblations have to begin with the sāyamāhuti.

[10]:

Khādira-Gṛhya I, 5, 6. Comp. Prof. Bloomfield's note 2, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenl. Gesellschaft, XXXV, 561.

[11]:

27, 28. Khādira-Gṛhya I, 5,7-9. As to the two cases regarding the time of the morning oblation, comp. Indische Studien, X, 329.