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 9, Kaṇḍikā 11
1. According[1] to some teachers, if the sun sets or rises when the fire is still not carried forth, one should offer two oblations, each consisting of four spoonfuls, with the verses, “May the mind, the light, rejoice...,”[2] and, “The thirty-three threads....”[3]
2. If one offered the Agnihotra before the sun had set, he should again offer the Agnihotra as soon as the sun has set, and pray to the fire with the verse, “Do you two become unanimous, having a common place, stainless. Do you not harm the sacrifice, nor the lord of the sacrifice. O two Jātavedases, do you become auspicious to us today.”[4]
3. If one offers the Agnihotra when it is still dark, he should again offer the Agnihotra in the morning, and pray as before.
4. If the sun rises when the Agnihotra is still not offered for one who observes the practice of offering the Agnihotra before the sun rises, one should take the milk into the ladle and hasten towards the east if the preliminaries were ready.
5. He should place the Agnihotra-milk, and sit down holding his breath as long as he can.
6. After he has held his breath as long as he can, he should make the offering with bhuḥ svāhā.[5]
7. If the Gārhapatya fire becomes extinguished while the Āhavanīya fire remains unextinguished, one should extinguish the Āhavanīya fire, collect the emBers of the Gārhapatya fire, and churn out the fire with the verse, “Jātavedas Agni was first born from here, from his own womb. May he, knowing, carry oblation to the gods with the Gāyatrī, the Triṣṭubh, and the Jagatī.”[6]
8. He should then recite over that fire the formula, “Do you rejoice for food, for wealth, for power, for lustre, for strength, and for offspring.”[7]
9. He should carry forth the Āhavanīya fire,[8] and enkindle it with the formulas, “May the two springs belonging to Sarasvatī enkindle thee.—Thou art Samrāṭ, thou art Virāṭ.”[9]
10. Then he should offer a cake on eight potsherds to tapasvant janadvant pāvakavant Agni.
11. The Iṣṭi should be concluded in the prescribed manner.
12. This itself should be regarded as the expiation-rite for the incidence if the Āhavanīya fire became extinguished while the Gārhapatya fire still survived.
13. This much should be different: Here one should not extinguish the Gārhapatya fire. He should offer a cake on eight potsherds to jyotiṣmant Agni.[10]
14. The Iṣṭi should be concluded in the prescribed manner.
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
= Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra IX.7.13; 8.1.
[2]:
Taittirīya-saṃhitā I.5.3.2.
[3]:
Taittirīya-saṃhitā I.5.10.4.
[4]:
Taittirīya-saṃhitā IV.2.5.1,2.
[6]:
Taittirīya-saṃhitā II.2.4.8.
[8]:
Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra IX.9.1 prescribes the carrying forth of the Āhavanīya fire with the verse, “Jātavedas Agni has appeared before the Uṣas...” (IX.l.11).
[9]:
Taittirīya-brāhmaṇa I.4.4.9.
[10]:
= Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra IX.9.4,5.