Praśna 6, Kaṇḍikā 8

1. The sacrificer should himself fetch fuel, and put on the (five) fires big faggots^[1] respectively with the five verses, “Whatever logs we place in thee, O Agni, be that ghee for thee. Accept it, O youngest one.—What the insect eats, what the ant climbs over, all that be ghee for thee. Accept it, O youngest one.—O Agni, may we, thy neighbours, rejoicing together with abundance of wealth and food, feeding thee every night without a break, feeding, as it were, a stalled horse, not be harmed.—We invoke Agni, kindled on earth’s navel, delighting in drink, recipient of great praise, worthy of offering, the victor, sustainer in battles, for great abundance of wealth.—O Agni, I place in thy mouth the troops that attack, that pierce, the thieves, and the robbers.”^[2]

2. He should put the biggest faggot on the Āhavanīya fire.^[3]

3. The Gārhapatya fire should be maintained constantly.

4. The Āhavanīya fire should be drawn up every evening and morning.

5. As the next best alternative, the Āhavanīya fire drawn out in the evening should remain until the morning Agnihotra.^[4]

6. The Āhavanīya fire of one, who is a gataśrī, should be maintained constantly.

7. Or of one who is desirous of long life.

8. The Dakṣiṇa fire should be either fetched or churned out every day.^[5]

9. Or it should be maintained constantly.

10. The Sabhya and the Āvasathya fires should be maintained constantly.

11. The offerer should cleanse round the fires: the Āhavanīya fire with the formula, “O Agni, the overlord, do thou become pure,” the Dakṣiṇa fire with the formula, “O Agni, the carrier (of oblation), do thou become pure,” and the Gārhapatya fire with the formula, “O Agni, the lord of the house, do thou become pure.”

12. Similarly he should cleanse round them after having offered the Agnihotra.

13. He should strew darbha-blaḍes round the fires—first the Gārhapatya, then the Dakṣiṇa, and then the Āhavanīya.

14. He should cleanse with water the Agnihotra-utensils in pairs, and arrange them towards the north of the Gārhapatya: a spoon made up of wood of khadira, the Agnihotra-ladle made up of the wood of vikaṅkata, a fire-stirring stick, and the Agnihotra-vessel with straight (perpendicular) sides, which is not made upon the potter’s wheel, and which is prepared by an Ārya.

15. When the sun has set, he should tether the Agnihotra-cow, and release her calf towards the right side.

16. Then one should turn her so as to face towards the east or north and milk her in the vessel and a milking pot.^[6]

17. There is a view that a Śūdra should not milk the cow; there is another view that a Śūdra should never milk any cow.

18. At any rate a Śūdra should not milk out the Agnihotra. Because the Agnihotra-milk does not pass through the strainer. So is it said.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra VI.2.6 prescribes that the faggot should be big so that the oblation put on the fire does not fall out.

[2]:

Taittirīya-saṃhitā IV.1.10.1,2.

[3]:

Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra VI.2.5 adds that one should put the faggots on the fires in that order by which they were set up, or he should put the faggot first on the Āhavanīya fire.

[4]:

cf. Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra VI.2.10.

[5]:

Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra VI.2.13,14 prescribes that the Dakṣiṇa-fire should be maintained constantly if it was set up by churning; when it is to be fetched, it should be fetched from the south.

[6]:

That is, he should milk het in the milking pot and then pour the milk into the vessel, cf. Satyāṣāḍha-sūtra III.7.