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 7
1. On the full-moon day, when the sun has risen on the tops of trees,[1] the Piṇḍapitṛyajña should be performed.
2. After having strewn the Dakṣiṇa fire with the darbha-blades pointing towards the south-east, the sacrificer should arrange one by one the utensils, necessary for the Piṇḍapitṛyajña, which have been cleansed first: the wooden sword, the spoon, the vessel for clarified butter, the grain-stirring stick, the skin of a black antelope, mortar and pestle, the winnowing basket, and also others which he requires.[2]
3. The Adhvaryu, wearing his sacred cord over the left shoulder and under the right arm, should pour out (paddy) in a vessel through the strainer consisting of one darbha-blade, towards the south of the cart.[3]
4. After having filled the vessel with paddy, he should level up (the paddy) to the brink of the vessel.
5. After having placed the mortar upon the skin of a black antelope,[4] the sacrificer’s wife, standing with her face turned towards the southeast, should pound the grains after winnowing but without sifting.
6. She should husk the paddy only once.
7. After having cooked the rice on the Dakṣiṇa fire, in such a way that the grains may remain intact, (the sacrificer) should pour out purified butter or unpurified clarified butter over the cooked rice.
8. Towards the south-east or the north-west of the Dakṣiṇa fire,he should dig out, by a single draw of the wooden sword,[5] an altar ending towards the south-east, sprinkle it with water by means of the hand with the palm turned downwards,[6] and strew upon it the sacrificial grass cut out at one stroke,[7] with the verse, “The Barhis is such as has been cut out at one stroke, soft as wool, and pleasant. I procure thee (O Barhis), for the Pitṛs. May my somya Pitṛs, the father, the grand-father, and great grandfather, together with their successors, sit down upon it.”[8]
9. After having placed the cooked rice within it and after having placed towards the south a mattress made of reeds, a pillow, collyrium, and unguent, one by one.
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra I.7.9 mentions the afternoon as the optional hour.
[3]:
According to Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra 1.7.2, he should pour out the paddy in an earthen vessel with the formula, pitṛbhyo vo juṣṭaṃ nirvapāmi, or silently.
[4]:
According to Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra 1.7.10, spread out with the neck towards the north-west.
[5]:
[6]:
According to Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra, one should sprinkle it with the formuta, śundhantām pitaraḥ, and recite over it the formula, āyantu pitaro manojavasaḥ.
[7]:
According to Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra 1.7.3, one should cut the grass with the verse, apām medhyaṃ yajñiyam... (Taittirīya-brāhmaṇa III.7.4.9). cf. Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra I.5.5.
[8]:
Taittirīya-brāhmaṇa. III. 7.5.10.