Prapāṭhaka III, Kāṇḍikā 2

1.^[1] For the Mahānāmnī verses (the Vrata is to be kept) twelve years,

2. (Or) nine, six, three (years).

3. These are the various possibilities.

4. Or also one year, according to some (teachers).

5. (In this case), however, the observances are enhanced.

6. (Keeping the Vrata through one year is allowed only) if (the student's) ancestors have learnt the Mahānāmnī verses.

7. There is also a Brāhmaṇa of the Rauruki (Śākhā, in which it is said):

8. 'The mothers forsooth say to their sons, when they suckle them:

9. '"Become men, my little sons, who endeavour to accomplish the Śakvarī-vrata!"'

10.^[2] During (the Vrata preparatory to the study of) these (i.e. the Mahānāmnī verses), touching water at the time of each Savana (is prescribed).

11. Let him not eat in the morning before he has touched water.

12.^[3] In the evening, after he has touched water, he should not eat, before he has put the piece of wood on the fire.

13. He should wear dark clothes.

14. He should eat dark food.

15. Let him be devoted to his teacher.

16. Let him make way for nobody.

17. He should be addicted to austerities.

18. He should stand in day-time.

19. He should sit at night.

20. And when it is raining, he should not retire to a covered place.

21. He should say to (the god) when he sends rain, 'The Śakvarīs are water.'

22. When (the god) sends lightning, he should say to him, 'Such forsooth is the nature of the Śakvarīs.'

23. When (the god) thunders, he should say to him, 'The great voice of the great (cow)!'

24. Let him not cross a river without touching water.

25. Let him not ascend a ship.

26. If his life is in danger, however, he may ascend (a ship), after having touched water.

27. In the same way (he should touch water) having disembarked.

28. For in water the virtue of the Mahānāmnīs is contained.

29. If he practises these duties, (the god) Parjanya will send rain according to his wish.

30.^[4] The rules about dark (clothes), standing, sitting, (making) way, and (dark) food may be considered as optional.

31. After he has kept his vow through one third (of the prescribed time, the teacher) should sing to him the (first) Stotriya verse (of the Mahānāmnīs).

32. In the same way the two other Stotriya verses (after two-thirds of the time and at the end of the whole time).

33. Or all (the three verses) at the end of the whole (time).

34. He should sing them to (the student) who has fasted and shuts his eyes.

35.^[5] Having filled a brass vessel with water, having thrown into it all sorts of herbs, and dipped (the student's) hands into it, the teacher should veil (the student's eyes) from left to right with a (new) garment that has not yet been washed.

36.^[6] Or he should sing (the Mahānāmnīs to him) immediately after he has veiled (his eyes).

37.^[7] With veiled eyes, keeping silence, he should abstain from food through a period of three nights, or through one day and one night.

38. Or he should stand in the forest till sunset (and spend the night in the village).

39. On the next morning he should put wood on the fire in the forest, should sacrifice with the Mahāvyāhṛtis, and should cause the student to look at (the following objects, viz.)

40. Fire, Ājya, the sun, a Brahman, a bull, food, water, curds,

41. With (the words), 'The sky have I beheld! Light have I beheld!'

42. In that way all (the objects stated in Sūtra 40) three times.

43.^[8] After the ceremony for averting evil has been performed, the student respectfully salutes the teacher.

44. Thus he has to break the silence (enjoined upon him).

45.^[9] A bull, a brass vessel, a garment, an optional gift (of a cow): this is the sacrificial fee.

46. The first time he may choose (either a bull or a brass vessel).

47. Let him provide his teacher with clothes, according to some (teachers).

48.^[10] A mess of cooked food, sacred to Indra, (is prepared). Let him sacrifice of that (food) with this verse, 'To the Ṛc, to the Sāman we sacrifice' (Sāma-veda I, 369), or (with the verse), 'The lord of the seat, the wonderful' (ibid. I, 171), or with both (verses).

49.^[11] This (he should do) at (all) the Anupravacanīya ceremonies.

50.^[12] The Mantra has to be altered everywhere (so that he has to say), 'I have kept (the vow),' 'I have been able,' 'Thereby I have prospered,' 'I have undergone.'

51.^[13] The fee to be given after the study of the Parvans is, a goat for the Agni-Parvan, a ram for the Indra-Parvan, a cow for the Pavamāna-Parvan.

52. After (the student) has returned (from the forest), he should entertain his teacher and his retinue with food,

53. And his fellow-students who have come together.

54. The way to sing the Jyeṣṭhasāmans has been explained by (the statements given with regard to) the Mahānāmnī-(vrata).

55.^[14] Here the following standing duties are to be observed:

56. He should not have intercourse with a Śūdrā woman.

57. He should not eat bird's flesh.

58.^[15] He should avoid (constantly living on) the same grain, and in the same place, and wearing one garment.

59. He should perform the rite of 'touching water' with water drawn out (of a pond, &c.).

60.^[16] From (the time of) his being directed (to observe the duties of his Vrata) he should not eat from an earthen vessel,

61. Nor drink (from such a vessel),

62.^[17] (Or rather) from (the time of) his being taught (the Jyeṣṭhasāmans, after the whole preparatory time, or after one third of that time), according to some (teachers).

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

2, 1. Regarding the Mahānāmnī or Śakvarī verses and the observances connected with their study, comp. Śāṅkhāyana II, 12 (see especially the note on II, 12, 13) and the sixth Adhyāya of that text. Khādira-Gṛhya II, 5, 22 seq.

[2]:

The rules as to 'touching water' have been given above, I, 2, 5 seq. The three Savanas or Soma-pressings of which the Soma sacrifice consists, are the prātaḥ-savana, the mādhyandina-savana, and the tṛtīya-savana, i.e. the morning Savana, the midday Savana, and the third or evening Savana.

[3]:

Comp. above, II, 10, 46; III, I, 27.

[4]:

See Sūtras 13. 18. 19. 16. 14.

[5]:

Comp. Śāṅkhāyana-Gṛhya VI, 3, 7.

[6]:

I.e. the fasting prescribed in Sūtras 34 and 37 may, if they like, follow after the teaching of the sacred song, instead of preceding it.

[7]:

Śāṅkhāyana-Gṛhya II, 12, 6 seq.

[8]:

Comp. above, I, 9, 29; Śāṅkhāyana VI, 3, 11 seq.

[9]:

45, 46. The student is to give a fee to his teacher three times, after he has been taught each of the three Stotriya verses (Sūtras 31. 32). To these three occasions the four objects stated in Sūtra 45 correspond, so that the first time either the first or the second of those objects, the bull or the brass vessel, may be chosen; the second time he gives a garment, the third time a vara (or optional gift). Comp. the similar correspondence of four objects and three cases to which these objects refer, II, 10, 8. 52.

[10]:

This is the Anupravacanīya ceremony (or ceremony to be performed after the study of a Vedic text has been finished) belonging to the Mahānāmnīs; comp. Khādira-Gṛhya II, 5, 34; Āśvalāyana-Gṛhya I, 22, 1 2; Śāṅkhāyana II, 8, 1 note.

[11]:

Perhaps sarvatra ('everywhere') belongs to Sūtra 49, so that we should have to translate: This (should be done) everywhere at p. 76 the Anupravacanīya ceremonies, i.e. also at those Anupravacanīya ceremonies which are connected with the study of the other texts.

[12]:

Instead of 'I will keep the vow,' he says, 'I have kept the vow,' &c.; II, 10, 16.

[13]:

The Parvans are the three great sections, sacred to Agni, Indra, and Soma Pavāmana, into which the first Sāmavedārcika is divided.

[14]:

According to the commentary he has to keep these observances through his whole life.

[15]:

Or, wearing always the same garment?

[16]:

Regarding the directions given to the student by the teacher, see chap. 1, 14.

[17]:

See above, Sūtras 31. 33.