Adhyāya II, Kaṇḍikā 13

1^[1]. On an auspicious day the harnessing to the plough. Or under (the Nakṣatra) Jyeṣṭhā, (because that rite is) sacred to Indra.

2^[2]. To Indra, Parjanya, the two Aśvins, the Maruts, Udalākāśyapa, Svātikārī, Sītā, and Anumati, he offers curds, rice grains, perfumes, and fried grains, and then makes the bullocks eat honey and ghee.

3. He should put them to the plough with (the verse), 'They harness to the ploughs' (Vāj. Saṃh. XII, 67).

4. With (the verse), 'For luck may us the ploughshares' (Vāj. Saṃh. XII, 69) let him plough or touch the plough-share.

5^[3]. Or (he may) not (do so), because (that verse) has been prescribed for (the erection of) the Agni (-altar), and the act of sowing stands in connection (with it).

6. After the front-bullock has been sprinkled (with water), they then should plough unploughed ground.

7^[4]. He should make oblations of cooked sacrificial food to the same deities as above, when sowing both rice and barley, and at the sacrifice to Sītā.

8. Then (follows) feeding of the Brāhmaṇas.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

13, 1. Indra is the presiding deity over the constellation Jyeṣṭhā; see Śāṅkhāyana-Gṛhya I, 26, 16, &c.

[2]:

The names of the genius Udalākāśyapa and of the female genius Svātikārī occur, as far as I know, only hero. Böhtlingk-Roth propose to read Sphātiṃkārī ('the goddess who gives abundance').

[3]:

At the Agni-cayana ceremony furrows are drawn with the plough on the Agni-kṣetra with the verses Vāj. Saṃh. XII, 69-7 2. Afterwards grains of different kinds are sown. See Kātyāyana XVII, 2, 12; 3, 8; Indische Studien, XIII, 244 seq. Thus in the Śrauta ritual the verse Vāj. Saṃh. XII, 69 stands in a connection which does not conform to the occasion for which it would be used here.

[4]:

'As above' refers to Sūtra 2. On the Sītā-yajña, see below, chap. 17.