Bharadvaja-srauta-sutra
by C. G. Kashikar | 1964 | 166,530 words
The English translation of the Bharadvaja-Srauta-Sutra, representing some of the oldest texts on Hindu rituals and rites of passages, dating to at least the 1st millennium BCE. The term Srautasutra refers to a class of Sanskrit Sutra literature dealing with ceremonies based on the Brahmana divisions of the Veda (Sruti). They include Vedic rituals r...
Praśna 1, Kaṇḍikā 3
1. With the formula, “Do you become firm with this lord of cattle, and do you multiply,”[1] he should return to the sacrificer’s house.
2. With the formula, “Do you protect the sacrificer’s cattle,”[2] he should stick up the twig from the east towards the west[3] either on the cart standing by the (Gārhapatya) fire[4] or in the fire-chamber.
3. According to some teachers, from the west towards the east.
4. One, who knows the residence of the Adhvaryu, becomes the possessor of the residence. One should perceive up to the fourth rite—“I shall do this, I shall do this.” This is the residence[5] of the Adhvaryu. One who knows this, becomes the possessor of it. So is it said.
5. Having taken, with the Sāvitra formula,[6] either a horse’s rib or a bull’s rib[7] or a sickle, he should recite over the Gārhapatya fire the formula, “Thou art the wealth[8] of the sacrifice.”[9]
6. With the formula, “The Rakṣas is burnt up, the evil spirits are burnt up,”[10] he should warm the cutting instrument[11] over the Āhavanīya fire.[12]
7. Having gone out either towards the east or towards the north with the formula, “This wise (rib) has come to Barhis, made by Manu, fashioned with Svadhā, the sages fetch from in front the delightful Barhis for gods to sit upon here,”[13] he should fetch the Barhis of the darbha-grass of any place.[14]
8. With the formula, “Thou art the tuft of hair of Viṣṇu,”[15] he should leave out the first cluster of the darbha-grass.
9. He should trace round the second (cluster) with the formula, “Thou art impelled by the gods, thou art increased by rain.”[16]
10. With the formula, “The remaining is the cow’s portion,” he should leave out of it two or three stems.[17]
11. He should touch the cluster with the formula, “Under the impulse of god Savitṛ, with the arms of Aśvins, with the hands of Pūṣan, I touch the Barhis, the seat of gods.”[18]
12. He should cut (the cluster) at a joint with the formula, “O divine Barhis, let me not hit thee across nor along; let me hit thy joint.”[19]
13. He should cut out a handful (of darbha-grass) of such a size that the nails (of the thumb and the fore-finger) might meet (after enclosing it).
14. This is the prastara.
15. According to some, it should be of the size of a cow’s tail.
16. According to some, of the size of a thigh-bone.
17. According to some, of the size of a handle of a ladle.[20]
18. According to some, unmeasured.[21]
19. In the same manner, he should cut out an odd number of handfuls.
20. (While doing so) he should go through the whole procedure except the tracing round (of the cluster) and the leaving out (of the stems).
21. According to some teachers, the prastara should make the number (of the handfuls) even; according to others, odd.
22. According to some teachers, he should cut an odd number of bundles.[22]
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
Taittirīya-saṃhitā I.l.l.l.
[2]:
Taittirīya-saṃhitā 1.1.1.1.
[3]:
That is, with its tip pointing towards the west.
[4]:
cf. 1.19.4.
[5]:
According to Dhūrtasvāmin, gṛhāḥ implies the four rites, namely, the carrying forth of the Āhavanīya, the adding of the fuel, the fetching of the twig, and the driving away of the calves.
[6]:
devasya tvā savituḥ...etc.
[7]:
According to Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra 1.2.2, he should take a bull’s rib silently.
[8]:
The formula reads: yajñasya ghoṣad asi. Maitrāyaṇī-saṃhitā 1.1.2; IV. 1.2; Caraka-kaṭha-saṃhitā I.2; XXXI.1 have goṣad, while Kapiṣṭhala-katha-saṃhitā 1.2 has ghoṣad. P.-E. Dumont (JAOS, 75, pp. 117—118 Proc, of the American Philosophical Society Vol. 107, No. 2, April 1957, note to the translation of Taittirīya-brāhmaṇa IIL2.2.2) regards ghoṣad as an irregular nominative singular masculine of the stem go-sadh with a transfer of the aspiration to the consonant of a preceding syllable, and renders it as “Cattle-provider” (go-sadh changed into ghoṣad), T. BURROW (JAOS 76, pp, 185—186) considers that the word really is go-sad and the aspiration go-sad-h is caused by a laryngeal suffix. He, therefore, renders the word as “Abode of the cows.” VIŚVA BANDHU ((ghoṣat—“Vaidikapadānukramaśabdakoṣa, Hoshiarpur) conjectures the reading as ghoṣa-vat and believes that koṣa was changed into ghoṣa. KEITH (Note to the translation of Taittirīya-saṃhitā I.i.2, Veda of the Black Yajus Translated, SBE, Vol. 18) says that ghoṣad is no more than an error for goṣad. C ALAND (note to Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra 1.3.3) regards the reading ghoṣad as uncertain, and renders the word as “Besitztum” (property). DUMONT has rightly said that the key to the meaning of the formula, yajñasya ghoṣad asi, is the Taittirīya-brāhmaṇa III.2.2.2 passage: yajamāna eva rayiṃ dadhāti, In this connection it is to be noted that while according to Bhāradvāja-śrauta-sūtra, Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra, and SatS, the formula is to be recited with reference to the Gārhapatya fire, the Baudhāyana Śrautasūtra mentions its reciting with reference to the sickle or the horse’s rib which might have been taken up while going to fetch the sacrificial grass and the sacrificial faggot. Baudhāyana-śrauta-sūtra reads: atha jaghanena gārhapatyaṃ tiṣṭhann asidaṃ va śvaparśuṃ vā”datte devasya tvā...ādade iti / ādāyā'bhimantrayate yajñasya ghoṣad asī'ti, Sāyaṇa on Taittirīya-saṃhitā I.1.2 and Bhaṭṭa Bhāskara on Taittirīya-saṃhitā 1.1.2 and Taittirīya-brāhmaṇa. III.2.2.2 have recorded Baudhāyana’s view. The injunction recorded in the Baudhāyana-śrauta-sūtra is no doubt more appropriate. While explaining the formula Sāyaṇa says, ghoṣad iti dhananāma. Bhaṭṭa Bhāskara too who is older than Sāyaṇa says, ghosad [ghoṣad?] iti dhananame'ti kecit. This meaning is quite in conformity with the relevant Brāhmaṇa-passage in Taittirīya-brāhmaṇa III.2.2.2 quoted above.
[9]:
Taittirīya-saṃhitā I.4.24.
[10]:
Taittirīya-saṃhitā 1.1.2.1.
[11]:
According to Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra 1.2.4, a rib, if taken as the cutting instrument, should not be wanned.
[12]:
According to Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra 1.2.3, either over the Āhavanīya or over the Gārhapatya fire.
[13]:
Taittirīya-saṃhitā I.1.2.1.
[14]:
According to Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra 1.2.5, he should recite this formula and go with the formula, urv antarikṣam anvihi.
[15]:
Taittirīya-saṃhitā 1.1.11.1.
[16]:
Taittirīya-saṃhitā 1.1.2.1. Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra 1.2.6-8 first prescribes this formula for the tracing round and then the formula mentioned above in sūtra 8 for the leaving out of a cluster. Or, it says, one should trace round only one cluster and cut it in its entirety.
[17]:
Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra 1.3.10: With “This is for the gods,” he should touch the darbha-blades which are traced round, with “This for the cattle,” those which are left out.
[18]:
cf. Maitrāyaṇī-saṃhitā 1.1.2.
[19]:
Taittirīya-saṃhitā 1.1.2.1. Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra 1.3.12-14 divides this formula into three parts and prescribes them respectively for the catching of the cluster, the applying of the sickle, and the cutting.
[20]:
Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra 1.3.17 mentions two more optional sizes, namely, that of an aratni and of a span.
[21]:
This view is not mentioned in the Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra.
[22]:
This is the view of Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra 1.4.2.