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 10, Kaṇḍikā 8
1. He should not uncover bis head and shoulder before ṭhe buying of Soma (plant).[1]
2. He should not put away the horn of a black antelope before the carrying away of the dakṣiṇās.[2]
3. He should scratch himself with the horn of a black antelope.
4. He should laugh under cover.[3]
5. If he sees any impure substance, he should murmur the formula, “Let my mind not become affected, (and my) sight wretched; the sun is the most excellent of all luminaries; O consecration, do thou not abandon me.”[4]
6. If it rains upon him, he should murmur the formula, “(O waters,) wetting, do you give me strength, give me vigour, give strength; do not ruin my consecration and my penance.”[5]
7. He should not leave the shed intended for the consecrated sacrificer.
8. The sun should not rise nor set while he is away from the shed intended for the consecrated sacrificer.[6]
9. He should lie down towards the south of the Āhavanīya fire and facing it.
10. He should not lie down with his face downwards, nor with his face upwards; he should not lie down with his back towards the (Āhavanīya) fire.
11. He may smile when an occasion arises; he may get out when an occasion arises. So is it said.
12. (By the word yathartu) is meant “when the occasion arises.”
13. He should not spit out; he should not cleanse his teeth; he should not (discharge) faeces by day, nor urine.
14. If he is required to do so, he should do so in a shady place.
15. He should discharge urine with the formula, “I leave out water, not offspring. (O water), dispelling the evil accompanied by the utterance of svāhā, enter into the earth.”[7]
16. He should not cook;[8] he should not give away anything;[9] he should not make any offerings (other than those) relating to the Soma-sacrifice.
17. He should reduce himself until the pupils of his eyes disappear.[10]
18. He should not divest himself of the skin of a black antelope; similarly of the staff.
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
X.18.2.
[2]:
XIV.6.6.
[3]:
He should not expose his teeth, cf. Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra X.13.4.
[4]:
Taittirīya-saṃhitā III.1.1.2.
[5]:
Taittirīya-saṃhitā III.1.1.3.
[6]:
[7]:
III.2.2.20-22. Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra X.13.10ff mentions certain other contingencies, namely, if the sacrificer emits semen virile, if he sees blood coming out, if he discharges phlegm, if he sheds tears, and if he perspires.
[8]:
For Vaiśvadeva etc. cf. Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra X.14.7.
[10]:
cf. Maitrāyaṇī-saṃhitā III.6.6.