Praśna 6, Section 16

1. In the sixth month after the child's birth he serves food to Brāhmaṇas and causes them to pronounce auspicious wishes; then he should pour together curds, honey, ghee, and boiled rice, and should give (the mixture) to the boy to eat, with the next (four) Mantras (II, 14, 7-10);

2. (He should feed him) with partridge, according to some (teachers).

3. In the third year after his birth the Caula (or tonsure is performed) under (the Nakṣatra of) the two Punarvasus.

4.^[1] Brāhmaṇas are entertained with food as at the initiation (Upanayana).

5.^[2] The putting (of wood) on the fire, &c. (is performed) as at the Sīmantonnayana.

6.^[3] He makes (the boy) sit down to the west of the fire, facing the east, combs his hair silently with a porcupine's quill that has three white spots, with three Darbha blades, and with a bunch of unripe Udumbara fruits; and he arranges the locks in the fashion of his ancestral Ṛṣis,

7. Or according to their family custom.

8.^[4] The ceremonies beginning with the pouring together of (warm and cold) water and ending with the putting down of the hair are the same (as above; comp. M. II, 14, 11).

9. He puts down the razor after having washed it off.

10.^[5] The ceremony is (repeated) three days with the (same razor). (Then) the rite is finished.

11. (The father) gives an optional gift (to the Brāhmaṇa who has assisted).

12. The Godāna (or the ceremony of shaving the beard, is performed) in the sixteenth year, in exactly the same way or optionally under another constellation.

13.^[6] Or he may perform the Godāna sacred to Agni.

14.^[7] Some prescribe the keeping of a vow through one year in connection with the Godāna.

15. The difference (between the Kaula and the Godāna) is that (at the Godāna) the whole hair is shaven (without leaving the locks).

16.^[8] According to the followers of the Sāma-veda he should 'touch water.'

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

16, 4. See above, IV, 10, 5.

[2]:

See above, VI, 14. 2.

[3]:

Comp. VI, 14, 3.

[4]:

See IV, 10, 5-8.

[5]:

I translate as if the words tena tryaham and karmanivṛttiḥ formed two Sūtras.

[6]:

'Having performed the same rites as at the opening of the study of the Āgneya-kāṇḍa, he performs an Upasthāna to the deities as taught with regard to the Śukriyavrata.' Haradatta.—'After the ceremonies down to the Ājyabhāgas have been performed, one chief oblation of Ājya is offered with the formula, "To Agni, the Ṛṣi of the Kāṇḍa, svāhā!"' Sudarśanārya.

[7]:

Comp. the statements given in the note on Gobhila III,

[8]:

The udakopasparśana according to the rite of the Sāmavedins is described by Gobhila, I, 2, 5 seqq.