Adhyāya III, Kaṇḍikā 9

1^[1]. Now the letting loose of the bull.

2^[2]. (The ceremony) has been declared in the cow-sacrifice.

3^[3]. (It is performed) on the full-moon day of Kārttika, or on the (day on which the moon stands in conjunction with) Revatī in the Āśvayuja month.

4^[4]. Having set a fire in a blaze in the midst of the cows, and having prepared Ājya, he sacrifices six (oblations) with (the Mantras), 'Here is delight' (Vāj. Saṃh. VIII, 51).

5^[5]. With (the verses), 'May Pūṣan go after our cows; may Pūṣan watch over our horses; may Pūṣan give us strength'—he sacrifices of (the sacrificial food) destined for Pūṣan.

6^[6]. After murmuring the Rudra hymns they adorn a one-coloured or a two-coloured (bull) who protects the herd or whom the herd protects. Or it should be red, deficient in no limb, the calf of a cow that has living calves and is a milk-giver; and it should be the finest (bull) in the herd. And besides they should adorn the best four young cows of the herd and let them loose with this (verse), 'This young (bull) I give you as your husband; run about sporting with him, your lover. Do not bring down a curse upon us, by nature blessed ones. May we rejoice in increase of wealth and in comfort.'

7^[7]. When (the bull) stands in the midst of the cows, he recites over it (the texts beginning with) 'Bringing refreshment,' down to the end of the Anuvāka (Vāj. Saṃh. XVIII, 45-50).

8. With the milk of all (the cows) he should cook milk-rice and give it to the Brāhmaṇas to eat.

9^[8]. Some also sacrifice an animal.

10^[9]. The ritual thereof has been declared by the (ritual for the) spit-ox.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

9, 1 seqq. Comp. Śāṅkhāyana III, 11.

[2]:

See above, chap. 8, 15.

[3]:

Śāṅkhāyana, loc. cit. § 2.

[4]:

Śāṅkhāyana, § 3. Of course, in Professor Stenzler's translation, 'in der Mitte der Küche' is a misprint for 'in der Mitte der Kühe.'

[5]:

Rig-veda VI, 54, 5; Śāṅkhāyana, § 5.

[6]:

Śāṅkhāyana, §§ 6-54. On the Rudra hymns, see above, chap. 8, § 13. Perhaps the words mā naḥ śāpta are corrupt; the correct reading may possibly be, mā^ऽvasthāta.

[7]:

Śāṅkhāyana, § 15. There is no Mantra in the Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā beginning with the word mayobhūḥ, but this word occurs in the middle of XVIII, 45 a; the texts which he recites begin at that word and extend down to the end of the Anuvāka. It is clear that mayobhūḥ was intended in the original text, from which both Śāṅkhāyana and Pāraskara have taken this Sūtra, as the Ṛk-Pratika, Rig-veda X, 169, 1.

[8]:

According to the commentators, a goat is sacrificed.

[9]:

See chap. 8.