Gautama Dharmasūtra
by Gautama | 1879 | 41,849 words
The topics in this Dharmasūtra are devoted to the student, the order of a person's life (āśramas), the householder, occupations of the four classes, the king, impurity, ancestral offerings, women and marriage, property, inheritance and penances. Gautama's Dharmasūtra is believed to be the oldest of the four Hindu Dharmasastras, It survives as an i...
Chapter XXVII
1. Now, therefore, the Cāndrāyaṇa (or lunar penance will be described).
2. The (general) rules prescribed for a Kṛcchra (are applicable) to that.[1]
3. (The hair must be) shaved, in case it (is performed as) a penance.[2]
4. He shall fast on the day preceding the full moon.
5. And (he shall offer) libations (of water), oblations of clarified butter, consecrate the sacrificial viands, and worship the moon, reciting these (ṛcas), 'Increase' (Rig-veda I, 91, 17), 'May milk be joined with thee' (Rig-veda I, 91, 18, and) 'Ever new' (Rig-veda X, 85, 19).[3]
6. He shall offer (clarified butter), reciting the four (ṛcas beginning) 'Yad devā devaheḍanam,'[4]
7. And at the end (of the offering of clarified[5] butter he shall offer) pieces of sacred fuel, reciting (the texts beginning) 'Devakṛtasya.'
8. Each mouthful of food must be consecrated by the mental recitations (of one) of the following (words): Om, bhūḥ, bhuvaḥ, svaḥ, austerity, truth, fame, prosperity, vigour, refreshment, strength, lustre, soul, law, Siva.[6]
9. Or (he may consecrate) all (of them at once, saying), Adoration svāhā.[7]
10. The size of a mouthful (shall be such) as not to cause a distortion of the mouth (in swallowing it).[8]
11. The sacrificial viands are, boiled rice, food obtained by begging, ground barley, grain separated from the husk, barley-gruel, vegetables, milk, sour[9] milk, clarified butter, roots, fruits, and water; (among these) each succeeding one is preferable (to those enumerated earlier).
12. He shall eat on the day of the full moon fifteen mouthfuls, and during the dark half (of the month) daily diminish his portion by one (mouthful).[10]
13. He shall fast on the day of the new moon, and during the bright half (of the month) daily increase (his portion) by one (mouthful).
14. According to some (the order shall be) inverted.[11]
15. That (is called) a month, occupied by the Cāndrāyaṇa penance.
16. He who has completed that, becomes free from sin and free from crime, and destroys all guilt.
17. He who has completed a second (month, living according to that rule), sanctifies himself, ten ancestors, and ten descendants, as well as (any) company (to which he may be invited);
18. And he who has lived for a year (according to that rule), dwells (after death) in the world of the moon.[12]
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
XXVII. The rules meant particularly are those given XXVI, 6-11.
[2]:
'He calls penance vrata.'--Haradatta.
[3]:
The four religious acts, the first of which is the offering of libations, are to be performed with the help of the three sacred texts, the first of which begins "Increase." As the number (of the acts and of the verses) does not agree, the fire-oblations and the libations of water must be performed severally, each with one text, and the consecration (of the offerings) and the worship (of the moon must be performed with all of them) together.'--Haradatta.
[4]:
'He shall offer--as nothing is specified--clarified butter, with the first four ṛcas of the Anuvāka 'Yad devā devaheḍanam.' Counting the three mentioned above (Sūtra 5), altogether seven oblations of clarified butter must be made.'--Haradatta.
[5]:
'On completion of the oblations of clarified butter, he p. 301 shall offer pieces of sacred fuel, reciting the eight sacred texts, which begin "Devakṛtasya," and have been mentioned above (XXV, 10). The word "completion" (anta) is merely a confirmation of something established, because (the place of the offering) is already fixed by the place of the rule. But others explain the word "ante" to mean "at the end of the Cāndrāyaṇa." The word "and" does not agree with their (opinion).'--Haradatta.
[6]:
Haradatta observes that on the days when the performer eats less than fifteen mouthfuls, the later mentioned texts must be left out, and that, while eating, the performer must employ the Prāṇāhuti Mantras (Āpastamba II, 1, 1, 2 note). He concludes by giving the following prayoga for the performance of the ceremony: He places all the food in his dish, and consecrates it by the texts "Increase," &c. Next he divides it into mouthfuls, and consecrates each successively with the word Om and the rest, and eats them, reciting the texts for the Prāṇāhutis.'
[7]:
Haradatta states that either of the two words may be used in consecrating all the mouthfuls, but that others think, both should be used.
[8]:
Yājñavalkya III, 324.
[9]:
The term 'sacrificial viands' denotes here, according to Haradatta, the food eaten by the performer, which, like that eaten by the performer of a Kṛcchra, must be haviṣya, 'fit for an offering,' p. 302 see above, XXVI, 2. Haradatta adds that, as a Gṛhastha must not beg, the food obtained by begging must have been collected by his pupils, and that liquid food must be used for the expiation of the more serious offences.
[10]:
Manu XI, 2,7-218; Yājñavalkya III, 324-325.
[11]:
I.e. the performer may begin with the fast on the day of the new moon.
[12]:
Manu XI, 221; Yājñavalkya III, 327.