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 11, Kaṇḍikā 20
1. If the Gharma-cow becomes infested of worms, the Adhvaryu should kill the worms with the Anuvāka, “O worm, I kill thee through Atri, Kaṇva and Jamadagni. Thou art killed by the divine song of Viśvāvasu. The king of worms, even their leader is killed. Its mother and father, big as also small worms, black as also white worms, also Āśātikas have been killed. All together with white worms have been killed.”[1]
2. Or this should be regarded as a general expiation-rite.[2]
3. If the Adhvaryu wants to practise abhicāra, he should take up blood as the oblation-portion, and offer it on the fire with the Anuvāka, “Bring forth, take out portion as of a cooked oblation; truly I place N.N. under the jaws of Yama. Be it so. Khaṇ, Phaṇ. Thou art killed.”[3]
4. If he desires to curse somebody, he should observe celibacy for at least three nights, go to him, and curse him with the Anuvāka, “I curse thee with Brahman; I curse thee with the curse of Brahman; I gaze at thee with the dreadful eyes of Bhṛgu. I meditate upon thee with the dreadful mind of the Aṅgirases. I prick thee with the edge of evil; do thou N.N. lie below me.”[4]
5. If the Adhvaryu hates somebody, he should go to his cowpen and bury there in the ground a self-born plant with the Anuvāka, “O Śimi-born plant, cut him out; O bed-born plant, cut him out; send him out to the mountain; drive away the rays of forest-conflagration. While the sun rises from the east, destroy him here who hates us and whom we hate.”[5]
6. Or he should stir the southern post of the door of the cowpen.
7. If the Udgātṛ does not chant the puruṣa Sāman,[6] the Adhvaryu should himself chant it on the Anuvāka, bhur [bhūr?] bhuvaḥ suvaḥ.[7]
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
Taittirīya-āraṇyaka IV.36.
[3]:
Taittirīya-āraṇyaka IV.37.
[4]:
Taittirīya-āraṇyaka IV.38.
[5]:
Taittirīya-āraṇyaka IV.39.
[6]:
While the golden puruṣa is being placed on the spot where the altar (citi) is to be piled up. cf. Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra XV.19.11; XVI.22.3.
[7]:
Taittirīya-āraṇyaka IV.40.