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 6, Kaṇḍikā 9
1. One should milk the front two udders of the Agnihotra-cow for one who is the eldest among his brothers or is the son of the eldest wife of the father or is desirous of priesthood or is a gataśrī.
2. One should milk the rear two udders for one who is the youngest among his brothers or is the son of the youngest wife of the father or who desires to become prosperous or who is a posthumous child.
3. One should milk out the front two udders first for one who is the eldest among his brothers or is the son of the eldest wife of the father. One should milk out the rear two udders first for one who is the youngest among his brothers. This is the view of some teachers.
4. At the normal milking, one may milk from the udders as he likes.
5. While milking, one should not touch all the udders simultaneously.[1]
6. The sacrificer should cross (the altar) towards the south to the rear of the Āhavanīya fire, and sit on the sacrificer’s seat. His wife should sit on the seat intended for the sacrificer’s wife.
7. One should offer the evening Agnihotra when the sun has set, or after seeing the stars or in the first part of the night.[2]
8. One should offer the morning Agnihotra at day-break or at dawn or when the sun is about to rise or has risen or has half risen. According to some teachers, one should offer the Agnihotra when birds begin to chirp.
9. In that he offers the Agnihotra after the sun has risen, he thereby accomplishes the Agniṣṭoma sacrifice; in that he offers it at midday, he thereby accomplishes the Ukthya sacrifice; in that he offers it in the afternoon, he thereby accomplishes the Ṣoḍaśin sacrifice. In that he offers the Agnihotra in the first half of the night, he thereby accomplishes the first Rātriparyāy;[3] in that he offers it at midnight, be thereby accomplishes the middle Rātriparyāya; in that he offers it in the latter half of the night, he thereby accomplishes the last Rātriparyāya. So is it said.
10. One should not understand that he is to offer the Agnihotra at any one of these periods; one should regard it as offered only in difficulty.
11. He should sprinkle water round the fires—first round the Gārhapatya fire, then round the Dakṣiṇa fire, and then round the Āhavanīya fire.
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
The sūtra reads: na stanau saṃmṛśati. The sūtra also occurs in Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra VI.4.2 which Caland translates, “He should not touch the teats.” He has added the note: “After the calf is brought over to cause the flow of milk, he should not touch the teats with wet hand as is done ordinarily.” This explanation is based on the commentaries of Sāyaṇa and Bhaṭṭa Bhāskara on Taittirīya-brāhmaṇa II.1.8.2 and also the commentaries on Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra and Satyāṣāḍha-sūtra . But, as P.-E.Dumont (NIA vol. 2, pp 164—65) has pointed out, saṃmṛśati means not merely “to touch,” but “to touch two or more things at the same time.” DUMONT has cited two or three sūtra passages in support of his meaning of saṃmṛśati. This verb occurs several times in the Śrauta and Gṛhya Sūtras, and in almost all places the meaning given by Dumont suits well. See: Baudhāyana-śrauta-sūtra I.4; II.18; IV.9; VI.5; VII.1.I; XX.30; XXI.9; XXIV.34; Bhāradvāja-śrauta-sūtra VI.II.7; X.5.I4; Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra VI.8.4; XL.12.3; Satyāṣāḍha-sūtra VII.4.18; Mānava-śrauta-sūtra II.2.3.10, KātŚS II.6.20; ĀśvŚS V.3.19; ŚāṅkhŚS IV.15.5; XVII.15.I0; KauṣGS V.4.6; Baudh Pitṛ S I.17. Bhavatrāta on KauṣGS V.4.6 clearly says: yugapad abhimṛśanti. sam ity ekībhāve vartate dravye ekīkṛtya yugapad abhimṛśantī’ty arthaḥ. The above-mentioned injunction is based on Taittirīya-brāhmaṇa II.1.8..2: pūrvau duhyāj jyeṣṭhasya jyaiṣṭhineyasya | aparau duhyāt kaniṣṭhasya kāniṣṭhineyasya | na saṃmṛśati pāpavasyasasya vyāvṛttyai. The sense of the sūtra in view of this Brāhmaṇa passage is that the milker should not touch together the two teats from which he is required to draw milk first, and the two other teats from which he has to draw milk afterwards. For the touching of the former two teats conduces to good, while the touching of the latter would conduce to evil. So, in order to distinguish the good from the evil, he should not touch all the teats together. DUMONT renders the sūtra to the effect that the milker should not touch more than one teat at a time. But in view of the dual pūrvau and aparau in the Brāhmaṇa passage, there is no possibility of touching one teat. Sāyaṇa has explained pāpavasyasa by pāpayuktaṃ vastu. The word means ‘confusion’ according to DUMONT. But in view of Taittirīya-saṃhitā V.1.2.2,3: pāpavasyasaṃ vā etat kriyate yac chreyasā ca pāpīyasā ca samānaṃ karma kurvanti, and also Bhaṭṭa Bhāskara’s explanation of that word in Taittirīya-saṃhitā II.1.8.2, it is reasonable to take it as a compound of pāpa and vasīyas. Pāpavasyasasya vyāvṛttyai means “In order that the good and the evil may be separated from each other.”