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 26
1. He should expand (each of the cakes) over all the potsherds with the formula, “Do thou be extended wide; may the lord of sacrifice be extended wide.”[1]
2. He should make (each of them) neither thick nor of the size of an apūpa; he should make it resembling the form of a tortoise and of the measurement of a horse’s hoof.
3. He should pour water in the pan and, with that water applied to it, pass his hand by the right round each cake with the formula, “Grasp the skin.”[2] He should not allow that water to drop down.
4-5. With the formula, “The Rakṣas has disappeared, the evil spirits have disappeared,”[3] he should carry fire round them three times; or with the verse, “Agni, the sage, the lord of strength, has gone round the offerings, bestowing gifts on the pious sacrificer.”[4]
6. With the formula, “Let god Savitṛ cook thee on the highest firmament,”[5] he should heat them with fire-brands,
7. With the formula, “May Agni not burn thy body too much; O Agni, guard the oblation,”[6] he should move round them the burning darbha-blades.
8. After the call, “Do you cook (the cakes) without burning them,” he should release his speech.
9. With the formula, “Be united with our prayer,”[7] he should put on each cake ashes with embers by means of the veda.
10. He should heat with a fire-brand the water with which he washed his fingers, and also the wash-water in the pan, draw within the altar three lines ending towards the east or the north by means of the wooden sword, and pour down water on them ending towards the west[8] and without allowing the water to spill out, with each of the formulas beginning with, “To Ekata svāhā.”[9]
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
Taittirīya-saṃhitā I.1.84.
[2]:
Taittirīya-saṃhitā I.1.8.1.
[3]:
Taittirīya-saṃhitā I.1.8.1.
[4]:
Taittirīya-saṃhitā IV.1.2.5.
[5]:
Taittirīya-saṃhitā I.1.84.
[6]:
Taittirīya-saṃhitā I.1.8.1
[7]:
Taittirīya-saṃhitā I.1.8.1.
[8]:
That is to say, he should pour down water first on the easternmost line, then on the line to its west and then on the line further to its west.
[9]:
Taittirīya-saṃhitā I.l.8.1.