Hiranyakesi-grihya-sutra

by Hermann Oldenberg | 1892 | 37,649 words

Hiranyakeshin (Hiranyakeshi) was the founder of a ritual and scholastic tradition belonging to the Taittiriya branch of the Black Yajurveda. Alternative titles: Hiraṇyakeśin-gṛhya-sūtra (हिरण्यकेशिन्-गृह्य-सूत्र), Hiranyakeshin, Hiraṇyakeśī (हिरण्यकेशी), Hiranyakeshi, Hiranyakesin, Grhya, Hiraṇyakeśīgṛhyasūtra (हिरण्यकेशीगृह्यसूत्र), Hiranyakesigr...

Praśna II, Paṭala 3, Section 9

1.[1] Now follows the distribution of Palāśa leaves (at different places).

2. 'Protector of the house, touch them! To the protector of the house svāhā! Protectress of the house, touch them! To the protectress of the house svāhā! Protector of the door, touch them! To the protector of the door svāhā! Protectress of the door, touch them! To the protectress of the door svāhā!'—with (these formulas) he puts down four leaves; (then other leaves) with (the formulas), 'Noisy ones, touch them! To the noisy ones svāhā! Quivered ones. . . ye that run in the rear . . . Minglers (?) . . . Choosers . . . Eaters, touch them! To the eaters svāhā!'—

3. Then again ten (leaves) with (the formula), 'Divine hosts, touch them! To the divine hosts svāhā!'

4. Then other ten (leaves) with (the formula), 'Divine hosts that are named and that are not named, touch them! To them svāhā!'

5.[2] Then he makes a basket of leaves, puts into it a lump of boiled rice with an 'under-spreading' (of Ājya) and sprinkling (Ājya) on it, goes outside his pasture-grounds, and hangs (the basket) up at a tree with (the formula), 'Quivered ones, touch it! To the quivered ones svāhā!'

6.[3] He then performs worship (before that basket) with (the formula), 'Adoration to the quivered one, to him who wears the quiver! To the lord of the thieves adoration!'

7.[4] With sandal salve, surā and water, unground, fried grains, cow-dung, with a bunch of dūrvā grass, with Udumbara, Palāśa, Sami, Vikaṅkata, and Aśvattha (branches), and with a cow-tail he besprinkles his cows, the bull first, with (the words), 'Bring luck! Bring luck!' Then (the bull) will bring him luck.

8.[5] He then cooks that mess of sacrificial food, sacred to Kṣetrapati (the lord of the field), with milk, sprinkles it (with Ājya), takes it from the fire, and performs a sacrifice to Kṣetrapati on the path where his cows use to go, without a fire, on four or on seven leaves.

9. He has him (i.e. the Kṣetrapati? an ox representing Kṣetrapati?) led (to his place) in the same way as the śūlagava (chap. 8, § 2).

10.[6] He sacrifices quickly, (for) the god has a strong digestion (?).

11. He then performs worship with (the two verses), 'With the lord of the field,' 'Lord of the field' (Taitt. Saṃh. I, 1, 14, 2. 3).

12. Of (the remains of that sacrificial food) sacred to Kṣetrapati his uterine relations should partake, according as the custom of their family is.

End of the Third Paṭala.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

9, 1. The text has bauḍhyavihāra, on which the commentary observes, bauḍhyāni palāśaparṇāni, teṣāṃ vihāro viharaṇaṃ nānādeśeṣu sthāpanaṃ bauḍhyavihāraḥ, karmanāma vā. The bauḍhyavihāra is, as its description clearly shows, a ceremony for propitiating Rudra and his hosts and for averting evil from the cattle and the fields. The commentary understands it as forming part of the śūlagava described in chap. 8, and with this opinion it would agree very well that no indication of the time at which the bauḍhyavihāra ought to be performed (such as āpūryamāṇapakṣe puṇye nakṣatre) is given. Comp. also Āpastamba VII, 20, 5 seq.

[2]:

I have translated avadhāya (instead of avadāya), as Āpastamba VII, 20, 7 reads.

[3]:

Taittirīya Saṃhitā IV, 5, 3, 2. Of course the god to whom these designations refer is Rudra.

[4]:

The commentary explains surodaka as rain-water, or as rainwater which has fallen while the sun was shining.

[5]:

Mātṛdatta says, kṣaitrapatyaṃ kṣetrapatidevatākaṃ payasi sthālīpākam, &c. The meaning of the expression 'that (enam) mess of sacrificial food' is doubtful; the commentary says, enam iti pūrvāpekṣam pūrvavad aupāsana evāsyāpi śrapaṇārtham.—The last words (on four or on seven leaves) the commentator transfers to the next Sūtra, but he mentions the different opinion of other authorities.

[6]:

nūrtte śīghraṃ yajate. kutaḥ. yataḥ sa devaḥ pākaḥ pacanaśīlas tīkṣmas (read, tīkṣṇas) tasmāt. Mātṛdatta.—Possibly Dr. Kirste is right in reading tūrtaṃ; the corresponding Sūtra of Āpastamba has kṣipram (VII, 20, 15), and, as the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa (VI, 3, 2, 2) observes, 'yad vai kṣipraṃ tat tūrtam.'

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