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 13, Kaṇḍikā 7
1. with the verse, “The god Uśij made three fire-sticks of young, round going (Agni) for immortality. They gave one of these to the mortal for use; the other two went to the place belonging to him.”[1]
2. Whenever he has to press Soma, he should press it on the crushing stone with the pressing stone.
3. This very verse should always be employed at the pressing of Soma.
4. He should recite the formula,“Thou hast fallen to me with offspring, with abundance of wealth; do not destroy my power and strength,”[2] over the first stalk that might fall down while pressing.
5. There is a view that one should recite this formula at each pressing; there is another view that he should do so only at the first pressing.
6. He should recite over the drops of Soṃa the verse, “The drop has fallen on the earth, the sky, on this seat and on the one which was aforetime. I offer in the seven Hotrās the drop wandering over the third seat.”[3]
7. There is a view that he should recite this formula at each pressing; there is another view that he should do so only at the last pressing.
8. At this stage, the sacrificer should equip the woollen filter with a thread-strainer (nābhi).
9. With the hand in which a piece of gold has been held, the Adhvaryu should take up the Soma-juice in the Dadhigraha cup through the filter, causing it to flow in an unbroken stream. There is another view that he should take up the Soma in a cup belonging to Vāyu.[4]
10. He should place it (= the cup) on the mound with the formula, “This is thy birth-place.”
11. Facing towards the east, he should then offer it with the hand with a piece of gold in it. The mantras to be employed in that connection have been explained in the context of the dadhigraha.[5]
12. Or this cup should not be regarded as having the characteristics of a Soma-cup, because of its being a modification of the dadhigraha.
13. Here the pressing serves a specific purpose because of its connection elsewhere. The somakaraṇī-verse[6] is prescribed for the pressing.
14. In this connection this is the general rule.[7]
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
Maitrāyaṇī-saṃhitā I.3.35. Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra XII.7.10 calls this a somakaraṇī ṛk.
[2]:
Taittirīya-saṃhitā III. 1.8.3.
[3]:
Taittirīya-saṃhitā III.1.8.3,4.
[4]:
[5]:
XIII.6.6.
[6]:
XII.7.1.
[7]:
See the next sūtra.