Praśna I, Paṭala 7, Section 26

1. The fire which (the sacrificer keeps) from the time of his marriage, is called the Aupāsana (or sacred domestic fire)

2. With this fire the sacred domestic ceremonies are performed.

3.^[2] On account of his worship devoted to this (fire the sacrificer) is considered as an Āhitāgni (i.e. as one who has set up the Śrauta fires), and on account of his fortnightly Caru sacrifices (on the days of the new and full moon) as one who offers the sacrifices of the new and full moon (as prescribed in the Śrauta ritual); so (is it taught).

4. If (the service at the domestic fire) has been interrupted for twelve days, the sacrificer ought to set the fire up again.

5. Or he should count all the sacrifices (that have been left out), and should offer them.

6. (The punarādhāna or repeated setting up of the fire is performed in the following way): in an enclosed space, having raised (the surface), sprinkled it (with water), strewn it with sand, and covered it with Udumbara or Plakṣa branches, he silently brings together the things belonging to (the sacrifice) according as he is able to get them, produces fire by attrition out of a sacrificially pure piece of wood, or gets a common fire, places it in a big vessel, sets it in a blaze, and puts (fuel) on it with the words, 'Bhūḥ! Bhuvaḥ! Suvaḥ! Om! Fixity!'

7. He then puts wood on the fire, performs (the rites) down to the Vyāhṛti oblations, and offers two 'mindā oblations' (i.e. oblations for making up for defects) with (the two Mantras), 'If a defect (mindā) has arisen in me,' (and), 'Agni has given me back my eye' (Taitt. Saṃh. III, 2, 5, 4).

8. He offers three 'tantu oblations' with (the Mantras), 'Stretching the weft (tantu)' (Taitt. Saṃh. III, 4, 2, 2), 'Awake, Agni!' (IV, 7, 13, 5), 'The thirty-three threads of the weft' (I, 5, 10, 4).

9. He offers four 'abhyāvartin oblations' with (the Mantras), 'Agni who turns to us (abhyāvartin)!' 'Agni Aṅgiras!' 'Again with sap,' 'With wealth' (Taitt. Saṃh. IV. 2, 1, 2. 3).

10.^[3] Having made oblations with the single Vyāhṛtis and with (the three Vyāhṛtis together), and having made an oblation with the verse, 'Thou art quick, Agni, and free from imprecation. Verily (satyam) thou art quick. Held by us in our quick mind (manas), with thy quick (mind) thou carriest the offering (to the gods). Being quick bestow medicine on us! Svāhā!'—this (last) oblation contains an allusion to the mind (manas), it refers to Prajāpati, and alludes to the number seven (?),—he quickly repeats in his mind the daśahotṛ formula (Taitt. Āraṇy. III, 1, 1). Then he makes the sagraha oblation (?); (then follow the oblations), 'This, O Varuṇa' (&c.; see I, 2, 8, 16, down to the end of the Sūtra). Then he serves food to the Brāhmaṇas and causes them to say, 'An auspicious day! Hail! Good luck!' he then performs in the known way the sacrifice of a mess of cooked food to Agni.

11. Here he gives an optional gift to his Guru: a pair of clothes, a milch cow, or a bull.

12.^[4] If he sets out on a journey, he makes the fire enter himself or the two kindling-sticks in the way that has been described (in the Śrauta-sūtra).

13. Or let him make it enter a piece of wood, in the same way as into the kindling-sticks.

14. A piece of Khadira wood, or of Palāśa, or of Udumbara, or of Aśvattha wood—

15. With one of these kinds of wood he fetches, where he turns in (on his journey), fire from the house of a Śrotriya, and puts the (piece of wood) into which his fire has entered, on (that fire), with the two verses, 'He who has received the oblations' (Taitt. Saṃh. IV, 6, 5, 3), and 'Awake!' (IV, 7, 13, 5).

16. The way in which he sacrifices has been explained (in the Śrauta-sūtra).

17. If one half-monthly sacrifice has been omitted, he should have a sacrifice to (Agni) Pathikṛt performed over this (fire). If two (half-monthly sacrifices), to (Agni) Vaiśvānara and Pathikṛt. If more than two, (the fire) has to be set up again.

18. If the fire is destroyed or lost, or if it is mixed with other fires, it has to be set up again..

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

This chapter is left out in Mātṛdatta's commentary; it seems to be a later addition. The division of the Sūtras is my own.

[2]:

26, 3. For tasyaupāsanena I think we should read tasyopāsanena.

[3]:

As to the Mantra, 'Thou art quick, &c.,' comp. above, I, 1, 3, 5, and the note on Śāṅkhāyana I, 9, 12. I cannot see why the oblation made with this Mantra is called saptavatī (alluding to the number seven); possibly we ought to read satyavatī (containing the word satyam, 'verily'). Can the words sagrahaṃ hutvā mean, 'having performed the worship of the planets (graha) at his sacrifice'?

[4]:

Comp. Śāṅkhāyana V, 1, 1.