Praśna II, Paṭala 6, Section 16

1. Now (follows) the Śravaṇā ceremony.

2. On the day of that full moon which falls under (the Nakṣatra) Śravaṇa, after the evening Agnihotra he puts wood on the (third of the three Śrauta fires, called the) Dakṣiṇāgni. One who has not set up the (Śrauta) fires, (does the same with) the sacred domestic fire.

3. Then he procures unbroken grains, unbroken fried grains, coarsely ground grains, (leaves and blossoms) of the Kiṃśuka tree, collyrium and (other) salve, and Ājya.

4. Having 'spread under' (Ājya) in the (spoon called) Darvi, he cuts off (the Avadānas) of those kinds of food (mentioned in Sūtra 3), mixes them with clarified butter, and sacrifices (with the formulas), 'Adoration to Agni the terrestrial, the lord of terrestrial beings! Svāhā! Adoration to Vāyu the all-pervading, the lord of aerial beings! Svāhā! Adoration to Sūrya, the red one, the lord of celestial beings! Svāhā! Adoration to Viṣṇu, the whitish one, the lord of the beings that dwell in the quarters (of the world). Svāhā!'

5.^[1] He anoints the Kiṃśuka (flowers and leaves) with Ājya, and sacrifices with (the Mantras), 'Devoured is the gadfly; devoured is thirst (?); devoured is the stinging worm.' 'Devoured is the stinging worm; devoured is thirst; devoured is the gadfly.'

'Devoured is thirst; devoured is the gadfly; devoured is the stinging worm.'

6. He takes a water-pot and a handful of Darbha grass, goes forth, his face turned towards the east, spreads the Darbha grass out with its points towards the east, and makes four Bali-offerings on that (grass) with (the formulas), 'To the terrestrial Serpents I offer this Bali,' 'To the aerial, &c.; to the celestial, &c.; to the Serpents dwelling in the quarters (of the world),' &c.

7. Having given there collyrium and (other) salve (to the Serpents), he worships them with the Mantras, 'Adoration be to the Serpents' (Taitt. Saṃhitā IV, 2, 8, 3).

8.^[2] He should take a water-pot and should at that distance in which he wishes the serpents not to approach, three times walk round his house, turning his right side towards it, and should sprinkle water round it with (the formulas), 'Beat away, O white one, with thy foot, with the fore-foot and with the hind-foot, these seven human females and the three (daughters) of the king's tribe.

'Within the dominion of the white one the Serpent has killed nobody. To the white one, the son of Vidarva, adoration!

'Adoration to the white one, the son of Vidarva!'

9. Then he worships the Serpents towards the different regions, one by one with (the corresponding section of) these Mantras, 'The convergent one thou art called, the eastern region' (Taitt. Saṃh. V, 5, 10, 1 seq.).

10. From that time he daily makes the Bali-offerings till the full-moon day of Mārgaśīrṣa.

11. Here the Kiṃśuka offerings (see § 5) are not repeated.

12. The sprinkling (of water) round (the house) does not take place (see § 8).

13.^[3] The last Bali he offers with (the words), 'Going to acquit myself, going to acquit myself.'

End of the Sixth Paṭala.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

I am not sure about the translation of vicaṣṭi. Perhaps it is only a blunder for vitṛṣṭi, which is the reading of the Āpastambīya Mantrapāṭha. Comp. Winternitz, Der Sarpabali, ein altindischer Schlangencult (Wien, 1888), p. 28.

[2]:

Comp. Pāraskara II, 14, 19.- In the first Mantra I read rājabāndhavīḥ; comp. the note on Par. II, 14, 4.

[3]:

Some authorities understand, as Mātṛdatta states, that he should offer the Bali only with the words as they stand in the Sūtra, others prescribe the formula (comp. § 6): 'To the terrestrial (aerial, &c.) Serpents I offer this Bali going to acquit myself, going to acquit myself.'