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 19

1. Let him pound the root of the Adhyāṇḍā plant and sprinkle it at the time of her monthly period with the two (verses), 'Speed away from here; a husband has she' (Rig-veda X, 85, 21. 22), with svāhā at the end of each, into her right nostril.

2. 'The mouth of the Gandharva Viśvāvasu art thou'—with these words let him touch her, when he is about to cohabit with her.

3. When he has finished, let him murmur,

4. 'Into thy breath I put the sperm, N.N.!'

5. Or, 'As the earth is pregnant with Agni, as the heaven is with Indra pregnant, as Vāyu dwells in the womb of the regions (of the earth), thus I place an embryo into thy womb, N.N.!'

6[1]. Or, 'May a male embryo enter thy womb, as an arrow the quiver; may a man be born here, a son after ten months.

'Give birth to a male child; may after him (another) male be born; their mother shalt thou be, of the born, and (to others) mayst thou give birth.

'In the male verily, in the man dwells the sperm; he shall pour it forth into the woman: thus has said Dhātar, thus Prajāpati has said.

'Prajāpati has created him, Savitar has shaped him. Imparting birth of females to other (women) may he put here a man.

'From the auspicious sperms which the men pro— duce for us, produce thou a son; be a well-breeding cow.

'Roar, be strong, put into her an embryo, achieve it; a male, thou male, put into her; to generation we call thee.

'Open thy womb; take in the man's sperm; may a male child be begotten in the womb. Him thou shalt bear; (having dwelt) ten months in the womb may he be born, the most excellent of his kin.'

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

19, 6. The first verse is that quoted already at chap. 16, 8. The text of the verses quoted in this Sūtra is very corrupt; see the notes on p. 36 of the German edition.

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