Praśna 8, Kaṇḍikā 4

1. The Hotṛ, who is seated with raised knees, should recite the yājyā without breathing in.

2. After having offered the vājina to the Vājins, the Adhvaryu should retain some portion of the same.

3. With the remaining quantity of the vājina, he should make the offerings to the directions as in the Animal-sacrifice.^[1]

4. After having invited the others, each of the officiating priests should consume the remaining portion—first the Hotṛ, then the Adhvaryu, then the Brahman, then the Āgnīdhra, and then the sacrificer.

5. Or they should consume it after having divided it equally.

6. All should give out the calls among themselves by the official designations.

7. The inviting formula should be, “Do thou N.N.^[2] be invited.” The response should be, “Invited am I.”

8. (One should consume his portion) with the verse, “The semen virile which is sprinkled over by me, which is created again within me, and which resides within me, do thou render me immortal thereby; do thou make me possessing good offspring. Invited, I consume thee who art drunk by the Vājins and who art invited.”

9. The rites up to the Samiṣṭayajus-offering should be similar.^[3]

10. He should offer the Samiṣṭayajus as in the Animal-sacrifice.^[4]

11. The Iṣṭi should come to a close in the prescribed manner.

12. After having divided (the hair) by means of a three-striped quill of the porcupine, he should cause the hair on the face and the armpits of the sacrificer to be shaved by means of a razor of red iron, and divide his hair with the verse, “Ṛta itself is supreme, nothing surpasses Ṛta; the ocean is deposited within Ṛta; this earth is supported by Ṛta; Agni is provided with sharp heat; Tapas is tread upon by Uṣṇih verse; the head is placed within Tapas with the lustre of vaiśvānara (Agni); I divide his hair with Ṛta; I turn it round with truth; with Tapas I pursue it; with the auspicious I bring it near; with the helpful I turn it along.”^[5]

13. In the same way he should divide his hair in the subsequent Parvans respectively with the subsequent verses.

14. For four months the sacrificer should not eat meat, should not approach a woman (for sexual intercourse), should not sit upon a raised seat, should abstain from speaking untruth, should lie down with his head towards the east, and should eat what is not sweet (amadhu).^[6]

15. There is a view that he may eat sweet; there is another view that he may eat sweet only as a sauce.

16. According to some teachers, however, he may approach his wife ather period of menstruation.

17. In this way he should observe the vow during all the intervals of the Cāturmāsyas.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

VII.20.8,9.

[2]:

The designation in the vocative case should be substituted for the word N.N.

[3]:

III.12.1.

[4]:

VII.22.17.

[5]:

Taittirīya-brāhmaṇa I.5.5.1,2.

[6]:

According to Baudhāyana XXVIII.18, amadhu means what does not consist of ghee. See Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra VIII.4.10,11.