Asvalayana-grihya-sutra

by Hermann Oldenberg | 1886 | 27,388 words

Most of the questions referring to the Grihya-sutra of Ashvalayana will be treated of more conveniently in connection with the different subjects which we shall have to discuss in our General Introduction to the Grihya-sutras. Alternative titles: Āśvalāyana-gṛhya-sūtra (आश्वलायन-गृह्य-सूत्र), Ashvalayana, grhya, Āśvalāyanagṛhyasūtra (आश्वलायनगृह्य...

Adhyāya II, Kaṇḍikā 4

1[1]. On the eighth days of the four dark fortnights of (the two seasons of) winter and Śiśira the Aṣṭakās (are celebrated).

2[2]. Or on one (of these days).

3. The day before, he should offer to the Fathers (i.e. Manes)—

4. Boiled rice, boiled rice with sesamum seeds, rice-milk—

5. Or cakes made of four Śarāvas (of ground grain)—

6. Sacrificing with the eight (verses), 'May the lower (Fathers) and the higher arise' (Rig-veda X, 15, 1 seqq.), or with as many (verses) as he likes.

7[3]. Then on the next day the Aṣṭakās (are celebrated) with an animal (sacrifice) and with a mess of cooked food.

8. He may also give grass to an ox,

9. Or he may burn down brushwood with fire—

10. With (the words), 'This is my Aṣṭakā.'

11. But he should not omit celebrating the Aṣṭakā.

12. This (Aṣṭakā) some state to be sacred to the Viśve devās, some to Agni, some to the Sun, some to Prajāpati, some state that the Night is its deity, some that the Nakṣatras are, some that the Seasons are, some that the Fathers are, some that cattle is.

13[4]. Having killed the animal according to the ritual of the animal sacrifice, omitting the sprinkling (with water) and the touching of the animal with a fresh branch, he should draw out the omentum and sacrifice it with (the verse), 'Carry the omentum, Jātavedas, to the Fathers, where thou knowest them resting afar. May streams of fat flow to them; may all these wishes be fulfilled. Svāhā!'

14[5]. Then (follow oblations) of the Avadāna portions and the cooked food, two with (the two verses), 'Agni, lead us on a good path to wealth' (Rig-veda I, 189, 1 seq.), (and other oblations with the texts), 'May summer, winter, the seasons be happy to us, happy the rainy season, safe to us the autumn. The year be our lord who gives breath to us; may days and nights produce long life. Svāhā!

'Peaceful be the earth, happy the air, may the goddess Heaven give us safety. Happy be the quarters (of the horizon), the intermediate quarters, the upper quarters; may the waters, the lightnings protect us from all sides. Svāhā!

'May the waters, the rays carry our prayers (to the gods); may the creator, may the ocean turn away evil; may the past and the future, (may) all be safe to me. Protected by Brahman may I pour forth songs. Svāhā!

'May all the Ādityas and the divine Vasus, the Rudras, the protectors, the Maruts sit down (here). May Prajāpati, the abounding one, the highest ruler, bestow vigour, offspring, immortality on me. Svāhā!

'Prajāpati, no other one than Thou (Rig-veda X, 121, 10).'

15. The eighth (oblation) is that to (Agni) Sviṣṭakṛt.

16[6]. He should give to the Brāhmaṇas to eat: this has been said.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

4, 1. Comp. Śāṅkhāyana-Gṛhya III, 12 seqq. The four p. 206 months of Hemanta and Śiśira are Mārgaśīrṣa, Pauṣa, Māgha, and Phālguna.

[2]:

The statement of the Prayogaratna that in case the sacrificer should celebrate only one Aṣṭakā festival, the Aṣṭakā of the Māgha month is to be selected, well agrees with the designation of this Aṣṭakā as 'the one Aṣṭakā' (ekāṣṭakā); see Weber, Naxatra II, 341 seq.; Indische Studien, XV, 145.

[3]:

7 seqq. Comp. the nearly identical passage in Śāṅkhāyana-Gṛhya III, 14, 3 seqq. and the note there. Āśvalāyana evidently gives these rules not as regarding one special Aṣṭakā but all of them.

[4]:

Comp. above, I, 11, 1. 2. 10. As to the Mantra, comp. Śāṅkhāyana III, 13, 3.

[5]:

I read, as Prof. Stenzler and the Petersburg Dictionary do, svārā kṣarāṇi. Comp. Pāraskara III, 3, 6.

[6]:

See above, chap. 3, 13.

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