Praśna II, Paṭala 1, Section 1

1. Now (follows) the Sīmantonnayana (or parting of the pregnant wife's hair).

2. In the fourth month of her first pregnancy, in the fortnight of the increasing moon, under an auspicious constellation he puts wood on the fire, performs the rites down to the Vyāhṛti oblations, and makes four oblations to Dhātṛ with (the verse), 'May Dhātṛ give us wealth' (and the following three verses, Taitt. Saṃh. III, 3, II, 2. 3).

3.^[1] 'This, O Varuṇa' (&c.; see I, chap. 27, Sūtra 2, down to): 'Hail! Good luck!'

He then makes the wife who has taken a bath, who wears a clean dress and ornaments, and has spoken with a Brāhmaṇa, sit down to the west of the fire, facing the east, in a round apartment. Standing to the east (of the wife), facing the west he parts her hair upwards (i.e. beginning from the front) with a porcupine's quill that has three white spots, holding (also) a bunch of unripe fruits, with the Vyāhṛtis (and) with the two (verses), 'I invoke Rākā,' (and), 'Thy graces, O Rākā' (Taitt. Saṃh. III, 3, 11, 5). Then he recites over (his wife the formulas), 'Soma alone is our king, thus say the Brāhmaṇa tribes, sitting near thy banks, O Gaṅgā, whose wheel does not roll back (?)!' (and), 'May we find our way with thee through all hostile powers, as through streams of water' (above I, 20, 5).

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

1, 3. The corrupt word vivṛttacakrā(ḥ) seems to contain a vocative fem. referring to Gaṅge—avivṛttacakra? The Āpastambīya Mantrapāṭha reads, vivṛttacakra āsīnās tīreṇa yamune tava. Comp. Āśvalāyana I, 14, 7; Pāraskara I, 15, 8.