Prapāṭhaka II, Kāṇḍikā 9

1.^[1] Now follows the tonsure of the child's head, in the third year.

2.^[2] To the east of the house on a surface besmeared (with cow-dung) wood has been put on the fire.

3. There the following things have been placed:

4. To the south (of the fire) twenty-one Darbha blades, a brass vessel with hot water, a razor of Udumbara wood or a mirror, and a barber with a razor in his hand;

5.^[3] To the north, bull's dung and a mess of boiled rice with sesamum seeds which may be more or less cooked.

6.^[4] Let them fill vessels separately with rice and barley, with sesamum seeds and beans, and let them place (those vessels) to the east (of the fire).

7. The boiled rice with sesamum seeds (Sutra 5) and all seeds (mentioned in Sūtra 6) are given to the barber.

8. Then the mother, having dressed the son in a clean garment, sits down to the west of the fire on northward-pointed Darbha grass, facing the east.

9. To the west (of her), facing the east, the person stations himself who is going to perform that (ceremony).

10. He then murmurs, fixing his thoughts on Savitṛ, looking at the barber, (the Mantra), 'Hither has come Savitṛ with his razor' (MB. I, 6. 1).

11.^[5] And fixing his thoughts on Vāyu, looking at the brass vessel with warm water, (he murmurs the Mantra), 'With warm water, O Vāyu, come hither' (ibid. 2).

12. Drawing water (out of that vessel) with his right hand he moistens the patch of hair on the right side (of the boy's head) with (the Mantra), 'May the waters moisten thee for life' (ibid. 3).

13. With (the Mantra), 'Viṣṇu's tusk art thou' (ibid. 4) he looks at the razor of Udumbara wood or at the mirror.

14. With (tile Mantra), 'Herb! Protect him!' (ibid. 5) he puts seven Darbha blades, with their points turned towards (the boy's) head, into the patch of hair on the right side of his head.

15. Pressing them down with his left hand, and seizing with his right hand the razor of Udumbara wood or the mirror, he touches with it (the Darbha blades), with the (Mantra), 'Axe! Do no harm to him!' (ibid. 6).

16. With (the Mantra), 'With which Pūṣan has shaven Bṛhaspati's head' (ibid. 7), he moves forward (that razor or the mirror) three times towards the east without cutting (the hair); once with the Yajus, twice silently.

17. Then (the barber) with the razor of metal cuts the hair and throws (the cut off hair ends) on the bull's dung.

18. In the same way (after the same rites have been performed), he cuts the patch of hair on the back-side;

19. And that on the left side.

20.^[6] He should repeat (when going to cut the hair on the back-side, and then again on the left side, the rites stated above), beginning from the moistening of the hair (Sūtra 12).

21. Grasping with his two hands (the boy) round his head he should murmur (the verse), 'The threefold age of Jamadagni' (MB. I, 6, 8).

22. In the same way (the rites are performed) for a girl,

23. (But) silently.

24.^[7] The sacrifice, however, (is performed) with the Mantra.

25.^[8] Walking away from the fire in a northerly direction they have the arrangement of (the boy's) hair made according to the custom of his Gotra and of his family.

26. They throw the hair on the bull's dung (mentioned above), take it to the forest, and bury it.

27. Some throw them on a bunch (of grass or the like).

28. Then they may do what they like.

29. A cow constitutes the sacrificial fee.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

9, 1. The Cūḍākaraṇa. Khādira-Gṛhya II, 3, 16 seq. On the literal meaning of Cūḍākarana, see Śāṅkhāyana I, 28, 1 note.

[2]:

Comp. above, II, 1, 13.

[3]:

Comp. above, chap. 7, 9; Gṛhya-saṃgraha II, 39.

[4]:

I believe that four vessels were filled, one with rice, one with barley, one with sesamum seeds, and one with beans. The Dvandva compounds vrīhiyavais and tilamāṣais cannot justify the conclusion that one vessel was filled with rice and barley mixed, and another with sesamum seeds and beans, for the plural pātrāṇi shows that there were more than two vessels. Āśvalāyana I, 17, 2, says, vrīhiyavamāṣatilānāṃ pṛthak pūrṇaśarāvāṇi.

[5]:

I have translated the Mantra according to the reading of Āśvalāyana (Gṛhya I; 17, 6) and Pāraskara (II, 1, 6): uṣṇena Vāya udakenehi. Gobhila has udakenaidhi.

[6]:

Thus on the back-side seven Darbha blades are put into the hair, and on the left side seven. This makes, together with the seven blades put into the hair on the right side (Sūtra 14), twenty-one, the number stated in Sūtra 4.

[7]:

In the description of the Kūḍākaraṇa given in this chapter no sacrifice is mentioned. See, however, I, 9, 28.

[8]:

Gṛhya-saṃgraha II, 40.