Adhyāya I, Kaṇḍikā 24

1^[1]. When he has chosen the Ṛtvijas, he should offer the Madhuparka (i.e. honey-mixture) to them (in the way described in Sūtras 5 and following);

2. To a Snātaka, when he comes to his house;

3. And to a king;

4. And for a teacher, the father-in-law, a paternal uncle, and a maternal uncle.

5. He pours honey into curds,

6. Or butter, if he can get no honey.

7. A seat, the water for washing the feet, the Arghya water (i.e. perfumed water into which flowers have been thrown), the water for sipping, the honey-mixture, a cow: every one of these things they announce three times (to the guest).

8. With (the verse), 'I am the highest one among my people, as the sun among the thunderbolts. Here I tread on him whosoever infests me'—he should sit down on the seat (made of) northward-pointed (grass).

9. Or (he should do so) after he has trodden on it.

10. He should make (his host) wash his feet.

11. The right foot he should stretch out first to a Brāhmaṇa,

12. The left to a Śūdra.

13. When his feet have been washed, he receives the Arghya water in the hollow of his joined hands and then sips the water destined thereto, with (the formula), 'Thou art the first layer for Ambrosia.'

14. He looks at the Madhuparka when it is brought to him, with (the formula), 'I look at thee with Mitra's eye.'

15. He accepts it with his joined hands with (the formula), 'By the impulse of the god Sāvitrī, with the arms of the two Aśvins, with the hands of Pūṣan I accept thee.' He then takes it into his left hand, looks at it with the three verses, 'Honey the winds to the righteous one' (Rig-veda I, 90, 6 seqq.), stirs it about three times from left to right with the fourth finger and the thumb, and wipes (his fingers) with (the formula), 'May the Vasus eat thee with the Gāyatrī metre'—to the east;

16. With (the formula), 'May the Rudras eat thee with the Tṛṣṭubh metre'—to the south;

17. With (the formula), 'May the Ādityas eat thee with the Jagatī metre'—to the west;

18. With (the formula), 'May the Viśve devās eat thee with the Anuṣṭubh metre'—to the north.

19. With (the formula), 'To the beings thee'—he three times takes (some of the Madhuparka substance) out of the middle of it.

20. With (the formula), 'The milk of Virāj art thou'—he should partake thereof the first time,

21. With, 'The milk of Virāj may I obtain'—the second time,

22^[2]. With, 'In me (may) the milk of Padyā Virāj (dwell)'—the third time.

23. (He should) not (eat) the whole (Madhuparka).

24. He should not satiate himself.

25. To a Brāhmaṇa, to the north, he should give the remainder.

26. If that cannot be done, (he should throw it) into water.

27. Or (he may eat) the whole (Madhuparka).

28^[3]. He then makes a rinsing of his mouth follow (on the eating of the Madhuparka) with the water destined thereto, with (the formula), 'Thou art the covering of Ambrosia.'

29. With (the formula), 'Truth! Glory! Fortune! May fortune rest on me!'—a second time.

30. When he has sipped water, they announce to him the cow.

31. Having murmured, 'Destroyed is my sin; my sin is destroyed,' (he says,) 'Om, do it,' if he chooses to have her killed.

32. Having murmured, 'The mother of the Rudras, the daughter of the Vasus' (Rig-veda VIII, 101, 15), (he says,) 'Om, let her loose,' if he chooses to let her loose.

33^[4]. Let the Madhuparka not be without flesh, without flesh.

End of the First Adhyāya.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

24, 1 seqq. Comp. Śāṅkhāyana-Gṛhya II, 15. The second Sūtra is paraphrased by Nārāyaṇa thus, 'To a person that has performed the Samāvartana (see below, III, 8), when he comes on that day to his house with the intention of forming a matrimonial alliance.'

[2]:

On Padyā Virāj, see the note on Śāṅkhāyana-Gṛhya III, 7, 5.

[3]:

Comp. above, Sūtra 13.

[4]:

Comp. Śāṅkhāyana-Gṛhya II, 15, 2.