Praśna II, Paṭala 1, Section 2

1. Now (follows) the Puṃsavana (i.e. the ceremony for securing the birth of a male child).

2.^[1] In the third month, in the fortnight of the increasing moon, under an auspicious constellation (&c.; see the preceding section, Sūtras 2 and 3, down to:) in a round apartment. He gives her a barley-grain in her right hand with (the formula), 'A man art thou;'

3. With (the formula), 'The two testicles are ye,' two mustard seeds or two beans, on both sides of that barley-grain.

4. With (the formula), 'Śvāvṛtat' (? śvāvṛttat?) (he pours) a drop of curds (on those grains). That he gives her to eat.

5. After she has sipped water, he touches her belly with (the formula), 'With my ten (fingers) I touch. thee that thou mayst give birth to a child after ten months.'

6^[2] (He pounds) the last shoot of a Nyagrodha trunk (and mixes the powder) with ghee, or a silkworm (and mixes the powder) with a pap prepared of panick seeds, or a splinter of a sacrificial post taken from the north-easterly part (of that post) exposed to the fire, or (he takes ashes or soot [?] of) a fire that has been kindled by attrition, and inserts that into the right nostril of (the wife) whose head rests on the widely spread root (of an Udumbara tree?).

7. If she miscarries, he should three times stroke (her body), from the navel upwards, with her wet hand, with (the formula), 'Thitherwards, not hitherwards, may Tvaṣṭṛ bind thee in his bonds. Making (the mother) enter upon the seasons, live ten months (in thy mother's womb); do not bring death to men.'

8.^[3] When her confinement has come, he performs the kṣipraprasavana (i.e. the ceremony for accelerating the confinement). Having placed a water-pot near her head and a Tūryantī plant near her feet, he touches her belly.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

2, 2. Comp. the note on Āśvalāyana I, 13, 2.

[2]:

The translation of this Sūtra should be considered merely as tentative. Some words of the text are uncertain, and the remarks of Mātṛdatta are very incorrectly given in the MSS.

[3]:

Comp. Āpastamba-Gṛhya VI, 14, 14; Āśvalāyana II, 8, 14; IV, 4, 8.