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 7, Kaṇḍikā 1

[The Animal-sacrifice]

1. One, who is going to perform an Animal-sacrifice, should recite to himself the ṣaḍḍhotṛ[1] formula, and offer an oblation of clarified butter on the Āhavanīya fire with the graha portion[2] of that formula.

2. He should then offer a yūpāhuti by means of the spoon with the verse, “O Viṣṇu, do thou bestride wide. Do thou, who hast ghee as thy birth-place, drink ghee, and increase the lord of sacrifice.”[3]

3. The Adhvaryu should take up the clarified butter which is remaining in the vessel and also the spoon; the cutter should take up the cutting implement.

4. They[4] should go towards that direction where they desire to procure the sacrificial post.

5. These are the trees fit for being turned into a sacrificial post: palāśa, khadira, and rohitaka.[5]

6. A sacrificer desirous of Brahman-splendour[6] should prepare a sacrificial post of bilva.

7. A sacrificial post made of bilva is a normal one.[7]

8. The cutter should cut off the tree in such a way that its stump would not stick to the axle of a cart.

9. One should cut a tree which has grown on another tree for one in respect of whom he desires that he may become unstable. One should cut a tree which is without leaves and whose end has become dry for one in respect of whom he desires that he may become void of cattle. One should cut a tree which has many leaves and many twigs for one in respect of whom he desires that he may become a possessor of cattle. One should cut a stable tree for one who is desirous of stability. So is it said.[8]

10. One should not cut a tree which is turned towards the south; nor one which is turned towards the north; nor one which is eaten by insects. One should cut such a tree which is straight, whose twigs are turned upwards, whose end is a little bent while the tree itself is straight. He should cut such a tree whose end is bent towards the east or west or north.[9]

11. The Adhvaryu should touch the tree and murmur the formula, “I have passed over some, I have not approached others. I have come across thee nearer than the distant ones, distant than the inferior ones. I welcome thee that belongest to Viṣṇu for the sacrifice to gods.”[10]

12. He should take clarified butter in a spoon and anoint round the tree with the formula, “May god Savitṛ besmear thee with honey.”[11]

13. With the formula, “O plant, do thou protect him,”[12] he should hold a darbha-blade between (the tree and the cutting instrument).

14. With the formula, “O axe, do thou not injure him,”[13] he should cut it with the axe.

15. He should take away the first of the chips that may fall down, and cut the tree at the height of the knee or the ankle.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Taittirīya-āraṇyaka III.4: “(O animal), may thy eye go to the sun, the vital breath to the wind, the back to the sky, the soul to the atmosphere. Do thou reach the sacrifice through thy organs; the earth through thy other limbs.” cf. Taittirīya-brāhmaṇa II.2.2.3.

[2]:

“O lord of speech,do thou impel the offering nourishing the gods in the heaven through thy faultless speech and faultless Juhū.”

[3]:

Taittirīya-saṃhitā I.3.4.1. cf. Taittirīya-saṃhitā VI.3.3.1.

[4]:

The Adhvaryu, the cutter, the sacrificer, and the Brahman.

[5]:

Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra VII.1.16 prescribes palāśa for one who is desirous of lustre or a sacrifice; khadira for one who is desirous of heaven or valour; rohitaka for one who is desirous of offspring or good eyesight.

[6]:

Or of food, according to Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra VII.1.16.

[7]:

Irrespective of one’s desire.

[8]:

Taittirīya-saṃhitā VI.3.3.4,5.

[9]:

Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra VII.1.17 adds that the tree should not be hollow and should have grown on even surface.

[10]:

Taittirīya-saṃhitā I.3.5.1.

[11]:

Taittirīya-saṃhitā I.3.5.1.

[12]:

Taittirīya-saṃhitā I.3.5.1.

[13]:

Taittirīya-saṃhitā I.3.5.1.

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