Praśna II, Paṭala 2, Section 7

1.^[1] Now (follows) the expiation for attacks of the dog-demon (epilepsy) (on the boy).

2.^[2] When the attack assails (the boy, the performer of the ceremony) arranges his sacrificial cord over his left shoulder, sips water, and fetches water with a cup that has not yet been used (in order to pour it upon the boy). In the middle of the hall he elevates (the earth at) that place in which they use to gamble; he besprinkles it with water, casts the dice, scatters them (on all sides), makes a heap of them, spreads them out, makes an opening in the thatched roof of the hall, takes the boy in through that (opening), lays him on his back on the dice, and pours a mixture of curds and salt-water upon him, while they beat a gong towards the south. (The curds and water are poured on the sick boy with the following Mantras),

'Kurkura, Sukurkura, the Kurkura with the dark fetter . . . .

'Sārameya runs about, looking, as it were, upon the sea. He, the Suvīriṇa (?), wears golden ornaments on his neck and on his breast, the most excellent (ornaments) of dogs (?).

'Suvīriṇa, let him loose! Let him loose, Ekavrātya! Let him loose, doggy! Let him loose, Chat!

'Ṭeka and Sasaramaṭaṃka and Tūla and Vitūla and the white one and the red one. Let him loose! . . . . the brown and red one.

'On those two single ones the sarasyakās (?) run down in the third heaven from here. Chat! Go away. Sīsarama! Sārameya! Adoration to thee, Sīsara!

'Your mother is called the messenger; your father is the maṇḍākaka (maṇḍūkaka, the frog?). Chat! Go away, &c.

'Your mother is called dulā (the staggering one?); your father is the maṇḍākaka. Chat! Go away, &c.

'The stallions (stamp with) their feet. Do not gnash (?) thy teeth. Chat! Go away, &c.

'The carpenter hammers at (the chariots) that have wheels (?). Do not gnash (?) thy teeth. Chat! Go away,' &c.

3. Then (the performer of the ceremony) says, 'Choose a boon.'

4. (The father or brother of the boy replies), 'I choose the boy.'

5.^[3] They should do so, when the attack assails him, three times in the day, in the morning, at noon, and in the afternoon, and when he has recovered.

End of the Second Paṭala.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

7, 1. śvagraho^ऽpasmāra unmattaḥ Sārameya ity eke. Mātṛdatta.—Comp. Pāraskara I, 16, 24; Āpastamba VII, 18, 1.

[2]:

The Mantras are partly unintelligible. As to kurkura comp. the note on Pāraskara I, 16, 24.

[3]:

There can be little doubt as to the correctness of the reading agadaḥ instead of āgataḥ.