Sankhayana-grihya-sutra

by Hermann Oldenberg | 1886 | 37,785 words

The Grihya-sutra ascribed to Shankhayana, which has been edited and translated into German in the XVth volume of the "Indische Studien", is based on the first of the four Vedas, the Rig-veda in the Bashkala recension, and among the Brahmana texts, on the Kaushitaka. Alternative titles: Śāṅkhāyana-gṛhya-sūtra (शाङ्खायन-गृह्य-सूत्र), Shank...

Adhyāya I, Khaṇḍa 16

1[1]. 'A bull's hide'—this has been declared.

2[2]. On that hide the husband makes her sit down and sacrifices, while she takes hold of him, four oblations (with the following formulas),

3. 'With god Agni, with the earth-world of the worlds, and the Rig-veda of the Vedas: therewith I appease thee, N.N., svāhā!

'With god Vāyu, with the air-world of the worlds, with the Yajur-veda of the Vedas: therewith I appease thee, N.N., svāhā!

'With god Sūrya, with the heaven-world of the worlds, with the Sāma-veda of the Vedas: therewith I appease thee, N.N., svāhā!

'With god Candra, with the world of the quarters (of the horizon) of the worlds, with the Brahma-veda of the Vedas: therewith I appease thee, N.N., svāhā!'

4. Or, 'Bhūḥ! What harm dwells in thee, bringing death to thy husband, death to thy husband's brother, that I make death-bringing to thy paramour, N.N., svāhā!'—thus the first (of the before-mentioned formulas) may be joined with the first Mahāvyāhṛti, the second with the second, the third with the third, the fourth with (the three Mahāvyāhṛtis) together.

5. With (the verse), 'With no evil eye' (Rig-veda X, 85, 44), let him besmear (her) eyes with Ājya salve.

6. (The bridegroom,) having touched the ends of her hair with the three (verses), 'How may us the resplendent one . . .' (Rig-veda IV, 31, 1-3),

7. And having quickly recited the four verses, 'And those divine medicines' (Rig-veda VIII, 18, 8), at the end (of that text) with the word svāhā (pours out) the remainder on (her) head.

8[3]. Here some place a boy of good birth on both sides, in her lap, with this (verse), 'Into thy womb' (see below, chap. 19, 6),

9. Or also silently.

10. Into this (boy's) joined hands (the bridegroom) gives fruits and causes (the Brāhmaṇas) to wish an auspicious day.

11. Thus she becomes the mother of male children.

12. With the rest of the hymn, 'Stay ye here both' (Rig-veda X, 85, 42 seq.), they make them enter the house.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

16, 1. In chap. 15, 22 it is said that the bride arrives at the house; in 16, 12, that she enters the house. Probably we are to understand, therefore, that the sacrifice prescribed in this chapter, Sūtras 2 seq., is performed before the house, like the Vāstoṣpatīya karman (below, III, 4). The words, 'has been declared,' refer to the Śrauta-sūtra (IV, r6, 2), 'Having spread a red bull's skin, with the neck to the north or to the east, with the hair outside, behind the fire, they sit down,' &c.

[2]:

On anvārambha comp. the quotation in the note on chap. II, 2.

[3]:

It should be noted that the verse ā te yonim is quoted here only with the Pratika, while its full text is given below, chap. 19, 6. Can the Sūtras describing this ceremony with the kumāra ubhayataḥ-sujāta be a later addition?

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