Adhyāya I, Khaṇḍa 8

1^[1]. Now (follows) the strewing (of grass) around (the fire).

2. He strews eastward-pointed Kuśa grass around it, in three layers or in five layers,

3. Beginning on the east side, then to the west, then to the west.

4. He covers the roots (of the grass-blades) with the points.

5. And all kinds of rites are to be performed beginning south, ending north.

6^[2]. He places the Brahman south with the words, BHŪR BHUVAḤ SVAḤ,

7. Adorns him with flowers,

8^[3]. Carries forward on the north side the Praṇītā waters with the words, 'Who carries ye forward?'—

9^[4]. Takes up with the left hand the Kuśa blades, and arranges them (on the ground) with the right hand,

10. Bending his right knee,

11. The left when worshipping the Manes.

12. The strewing around (of the grass) is not necessary in the Ājya offerings,

13^[5]. Nor in the standing offerings, according to Māṇḍūkeya.

14^[6]. He now measures off with the span (of his hand) two Kuśa blades, which are not unequal, with unbroken points, bearing no young shoots in them, and severs them (from their roots) with a Kuśa blade, saying, 'Purifiers are ye.'

15. There are two or three (of these Kuśa strainers).

16. He holds them with their points to the east and sprinkles them (with water, saying), 'Belonging to Viṣṇu.'

17. With the two Kuśa blades he sprinkles (water) around the fire three times, keeping his right side turned towards it,

18^[7]. Takes up the Ājya pot with the words, 'Milk of the cows art thou;'

19^[8]. Puts it on the fire with the words, 'For sap thee;'

20^[9]. Takes it from the fire towards the north with the words, 'For juice thee;'

21^[10]. And holding the two (Kuśa) strainers with their points to the north, seizing them on both sides with his two thumbs and fourth fingers, he bends them down, the points upwards, and dips them into the Ājya with the words,

'By the impulse of Savitar I purify thee with this uninjured purifier, with the rays of the good sun.'

22. (This) preparation of the Ājya (takes place) each time.

23. Let him not offer (Ājya) which has not been (thus) prepared.

24^[11]. Also the waters in the Sruva spoon (he purifies) with the words, '(By the impulse) of Savitar (I purify) you.'

25. This (is called) the PRAṆĪTĀ and the PROKṢAṆĪ water.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

8, 1. Comp. the passages quoted in Professor Eggeling's note on Śatapatha Br. I, 1, 1, 22.

[2]:

Ordinarily there was no real Brahman present, and his place was filled by a bundle of Kuśa grass that represented him. Nārāyaṇa states that this bundle should consist of fifty blades of Kuśa grass. Comp. also the Gṛhya-saṃgraha-pariśiṣṭa I, 89-90.

[3]:

Comp. the passages quoted by Dr. Bloomfield, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländ. Gesellschaft, vol. xxxv, p. 565, note 2.

[4]:

This Sūtra shows that the paristaraṇa, though already treated of in Sūtras 1-4, is not to be performed till after the 'carrying forward' of the Praṇītā water. Comp. Nārāyaṇa's note on Sūtra 1 (p. 123 of the German edition). That this is indeed the order of the different acts is confirmed by Pāraskara I, 1, 2.

[5]:

'In the standing offerings, such as the Vaiśvadeva sacrifice in the morning and in the evening.' Nārāyaṇa.

[6]:

Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā I, 12 a.

[7]:

Vāj. Saṃh. IV, 3 a.

[8]:

Vāj. Saṃh. I, 22 d.

[9]:

Vāj. Saṃh. I, 30 c.

[10]:

Vāj. Saṃh. I, 12 b.—The division of Sūtras 21 and 22 should be after iti, not, as the Indian tradition has it, after raśmibhiḥ.

[11]:

24, 25. Rāmacandra: 'He pours water into the Sruva and purifies this also, as he had done with the Ājya (Sūtra 21) . . . . He then pours a little portion of that water on to the Praṇītā water (see above, Sūtra 8), and with the rest, which is called the Prokṣaṇī water, he sprinkles the sacrificial food, the fuel, and the Barhis.'