Prapāṭhaka IV, Kāṇḍikā 6

1.^[1] Let him daily repeat (the formula), 'Bhūḥ!' (MB. II, 4, 14) in order to avert involuntary death.

2. (He who does so) has nothing to fear from serious diseases or from sorcery.

3. (The ceremony for) driving away misfortune (is as follows).

4.^[2] It is performed on the sacrificial day (i.e. on the first day of the fortnight).

5. (Oblations are made with the six verses), 'From the head' (MB. II, 5, 1 seq.), verse by verse.

6.^[3] The seventh (verse is), 'She who athwart' (MB. I, 5, 6).

7.^[4] (Then follow) the verses of the Vāmadevya,

8. (And) the Mahāvyāhṛtis.

9. The last (verse) is, 'Prajāpati' (MB. II, 5, 8).

10.^[5] With the formula, 'I am glory' (MB. II, 5, 9) one who is desirous of glory should worship the sun in the forenoon, at noon, and in the afternoon,

11. Changing (the words), 'of the forenoon' (into 'of the noon,' and 'of the afternoon,' accordingly).

12. Worshipping (the sun) at the time of the morning twilight and of the evening twilight procures happiness, (both times) with (the formula), 'O sun! the ship' (MB. II, 5, 14), and (after that) in the morning with (the formula), 'When thou risest, O sun, I shall rise with thee' (ibid. 15); in the evening with (the formula), 'When thou goest to rest, O sun, I shall go to rest with thee' (ibid. 16).

13.^[6] One who desires to gain a hundred cart-loads (of gold), should keep the vow (of fasting) through one fortnight and should on the first day of a dark fortnight feed the Brāhmaṇas with boiled milk-rice prepared of one Kāṃsa of rice.

14.^[7] At the evening twilight (of every day of that fortnight), having left the village in a westerly direction, and having put wood on the fire at a place where four roads meet, he should sacrifice the small grains (of that rice), turning his face towards the sun, with (the words), 'To Bhala Svāhā! To Bhala Svāhā!' (ibid. 17. 18).

15. (He should repeat those rites) in the same way the two next dark fortnights.

16. During the time between those dark fortnights he should observe chastity till the end (of the rite), till the end (of the rite).

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

6, 1 seq. Comp. Khādira-Gṛhya IV, I, 19 seq.

[2]:

Comp. above, chap. 5, 12.

[3]:

Comp. above, II, 7, 14.

[4]:

The text belonging to the Vāmadevya Sāman, is the Tṛca, Sāma-veda II, 32-34.

[5]:

According to the commentary the formula yaśo^ऽham bhavāmi comprises five sections; thus it would include the sections II, 5, 9-13 of the Mantra-Brāhmaṇa. The Mantra quoted next by Gobhila (Sūtra 12) is really MB. II, 5, 14.

[6]:

Comp. chap. 5, 24-27. One Kāṃsa is stated to be a measure equal to one Droṇa. The more usual spelling is kaṃsa, and this reading is found in the corresponding passage of the Khādira-Gṛhya (IV, 2, 1).

[7]:

As to the meaning of kaṇa ('small grain of rice'), comp. Hillebrandt, Neu- and Vollmondsopfer, p. 32, note 1.