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 12, Kaṇḍikā 16
1. The Adhvaryu should start the procedure of the Animal-sacrifice for Agni-Soma.
2. He should tie up a twig of plakṣa along with the Barhis used in the Ātithyeṣṭi;[1] he should tie up the enclosing sticks used in the Ātithyeṣṭi along with the faggot.
3. He should tie up a faggot of twentytḥree sticks.
4. The procedure up to the taking up of the clarified butter should be similar.[2]
5. He should take up near the Śālāmukhīya fire the clarified butter as prescribed in the Animal-sacrifice.
6. Henceforward all rites to be performed with reference to the Gārhapatya fire should be performed on this fire.
7. Then they[3] should take up Soma, the pressing stones, the wooden cups, and the Droṇakalaśa; they should invite the sacrificer’s wife, and move the bullock-carts (up to the Śālāmukhīya fire).[4]
8. The Sālāmukhīya fire should be resorted to for the rites to be performed on the Gārhapatya fire.
9. The sacrificer’s wife should go towards the east of the eastern (= Sālāmukhīya) fire with the verse-half, “Let the wife of the Brahman go forward; let her sit on the Mahāvedi with fair colour so that I, aspiring for the fulfilment of a desire, may sit hereon my seat.”[5]
10. She should go through the rites beginning with the one related to the formula, “O Agni, lord of the house, do thou acquiesce me,” and ending with the reciting of the relevant formula over the Gārhapatya fire.[6]
11. The Brahman should hold the Soma in his lap.
12. The relatives of the sacrificer should be called out.[7]
13. The sacrificer should touch the Adhvaryu, the sacrificer’s wife the sacrificer, (and) other relatives, namely, the sons and brothers the sacrificer’s wife.
14. The Adhvaryu should cover the relatives with a new garment, hold the end of the garment on the handle of his ladle, and offer (on the Śālāmukhīya fire the first of) the vaisarjana oblations[8] with the formula, “O Soma, thou art the giver of wide protection from hostility brought about by ourselves or by others, svāhā.”[9]
15. After having offered the second oblation[10] with the formula, “May the active one gladly partake of the clarified butter,”[11]
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
X.21.2.
[2]:
VII.7.5 ff.
[3]:
The attendants.
[4]:
If the sacrificer is a habitual wanderer (yāyāvara). cf. Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra XI.17.1.
[5]:
Taittirīya-saṃhitā III.5.6.1.
[6]:
II.5.510.
[7]:
XII.15.13.
[8]:
[9]:
Taittirīya-saṃhitā I.3.4.1.
[10]:
He should finish half the quantity of the clarified butter for these two oblations, cf. Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra XI.16.16.
[11]:
Taittirīya-saṃhitā I.3.4.1.