Sankhayana-grihya-sutra
by Hermann Oldenberg | 1886 | 37,785 words
The Grihya-sutra ascribed to Shankhayana, which has been edited and translated into German in the XVth volume of the "Indische Studien", is based on the first of the four Vedas, the Rig-veda in the Bashkala recension, and among the Brahmana texts, on the Kaushitaka. Alternative titles: Śāṅkhāyana-gṛhya-sūtra (शाङ्खायन-गृह्य-सूत्र), Shank...
Adhyāya I, Khaṇḍa 9
1[1]. The Sruva spoon (serves as) a vessel.
2. According to the purpose the properties (of the different things to be used at each oblation) should be chosen.
3[2]. Taking up Kuśa blades with the left, and the Sruva at its bottom with the right hand, with the words, 'The hand of Viṣṇu art thou'—
4[3]. He offers with the Sruva the Ājya oblations.
5[4]. Beginning from the north-west side of the fire he offers (the Ājya) unintermittingly on the south side (of the fire) with (the verse), 'Thou Agni art full of foresight' (Rig-veda I, 31, 10).
6. Beginning from the south-west side of the fire he unintermittingly offers on the north side with (the verse), 'To whom these snowy mountains' (Rig-veda X, 121, 4).
7. To Agni belongs the northern Ājya portion, to Soma the southern.
8[5]. In the middle (are made) the other oblations,
9. (With the words,) 'Agni is the begetter; may he give to me N.N. as my wife; svāhā!
'Soma is rich in wives; may he make me rich in wives by N.N.; svāhā!
'Pūṣan is rich in kindred; may he make me rich in kindred by the father, the mother, the brothers of N.N.; svāhā!'
10[6]. At the Ājya oblations the offering of the two Ājya portions and of the Sviṣṭakṛt oblation is not standing,
11[7]. Nor in the standing oblations, according to Māṇḍūkeya.
12[8]. The place for the insertion is the interval between the Mahāvyāhṛtis, the general expiation, and the oblation to Prajāpati.
13. If the oblation consists in Ājya, let him seize the Kuśa blades in his left hand with his right hand at their points and with the left at their roots, and let him wet their points (with Ājya) in the Sruva, the middle and the roots in the Ājya pot;
14. In the oblations of cooked food, however, the points in the Sruc, the middle in the Sruva, the roots in the Ājya pot.
15. When he then has thrown them (into the fire) with the words, 'Agni's garment art thou,'
16. And has put on (the fire) three pieces of wood,
17[9]. (Water) is sprinkled round (the fire) as stated above.
18. Oblations for which only the deities are indicated, but no texts prescribed, are to be made merely with the word SVĀHĀ, 'To such and such a deity svāhā! To such and such a deity svāhā!'
19[10]. The ritual (here) declared of the sacrifice (to be performed) when (the father's) assent (to give away his daughter) has been declared—
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
9, 1. 'When no special rule is stated, the Sruva is to be understood as the vessel (for the offering). Thereby the rule, "The Juhū is the vessel" (Śrauta-sūtra III, 19, 5) is abolished (for the Gṛhya rites).' Nārāyaṇa.
[2]:
The manner of holding the Sruva in which the Ājya is, is described by Kātyāyana, Śraut. I, 10, 6 seq., Stenzler's note on Pāraskara I, 1, 4.
[3]:
As to the characteristics of Ājya (sacrificial butter), which is the substance offered at most of the Gṛhya sacrifices, comp the statements of the Gṛhya-saṃgraha-pariśiṣṭa I, 105 seq.
[4]:
Avicchinnaṃ (unintermittingly) is explained in Nār.'s commentary by ekadhārayā.
[5]:
8 seq. Here are indicated the chief oblations of this sacrifice (anyā āhutayaḥ pradhānabhūtāḥ, Nār.), or the āvāpa (the insertion, Sūtra 12) which comes between the standing introductory and concluding oblations.
[6]:
On Sviṣṭakṛt, comp. Weber, Indische Studien, IX, 217.
[7]:
See chap. 8, 13.
[8]:
This Sūtra prescribes where the āvāpa, i.e. the special characteristical offerings of each sacrifice, is to be inserted between the regular offerings that belong to the standing model. The same subject is treated of in the Śrauta-sūtra in the two rules, I, 16, 3 and 4: 'Whatsoever is offered between the two Ājya portions and the Sviṣṭakṛt, that is called āvāpa; this is the chief part (pradhāna) (of the sacrifice); the other (oblations) are subordinate thereto (tadaṅgāni).' The position of the āvāpa among the other oblations is indicated by Pāraskara in the following rule (I, 5, 6): Between the general expiation and the oblation to Prajāpati, this is the place for the āvāpa.' (The word vivāhe at the end of this Sūtra seems to me to belong not to this rule, but to Sūtra 7.) Our Sūtra is identical with that of Pāraskara word for word; only instead of sarvaprāyaścitta, as Pāraskara has, we read here, mahāvyāhṛtisarvaprāyaścitta. This means, I believe, that the āvāpa, preceded and followed by the Mahāvyāhṛti oblations (comp. below, I, 12, 13), should be placed between the Sarvaprāyaścitta and the Prājāpatya oblation. The oblations made with the Mahāvyāhṛtayas are four in number; the corresponding formulas are: bhūḥ svāhā, bhuvaḥ svāhā, svāḥ svāhā, bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ svāhā (comp. below, chap. 12, 12). The Sarvaprāyaścitta (general expiation) consists of two oblations, one with the three Mahāvyāhṛtayas, the other with the verse ayāś cāgne, quoted in the Śrauta-sūtra III, 19, 3, and in Āśvalāyana's Śrauta-sūtra I, 11, 13. (On the Sarvaprāyaścitta in the Śrauta ritual, compare Hillebrandt, Neu- und Vollmondsopfer, p. 166.) The Prājāpatya oblation is performed with the formula Prajāpataye svāhā. The discussions of Nārāyaṇa on this Sūtra (see p. 125 of the German edition) evidently fail to bring out the true meaning of the text; according to this commentator the oblations follow each other in this order: the two Ājyabhāgas, the principal oblations (pradhānāhutayaḥ), the Sviṣṭakṛt, the four Mahāvyāhṛti oblations, the two Sarvaprāyaścitta oblations, the Prājāpatya oblation. Finally we may mention the corrupt form in which the corresponding passage of the Śāmbavya-sūtra is preserved p. 29 in the MS. There the two Sūtras 10 and 11 are placed before the Mantra in Sūtra 9. This Mantra then is given down to svāheti, then follows ājyena, which seems to me to form part of the same Sūtra, and to refer to the oblations to which the Mantra belongs. Then the MS. goes on: mahāvyāhṛtishu sarvaprāyaścittāraṃ (sic) etad āvāpasthānaṃ ājyahavishi vyāhṛtishu sarvaprāyaścittāraṃ (the syllables prāyaścittāraṃ seem to be expunged) sviṣṭakṛto sthālīpāke. In the commentary I find the following Ślokas, which I give exactly as they are read in the MS.: tisṛṇāṃ vyāhṛtināṃ ca prāyaścittāhutīr api yad antaraṃ tad āpāpāsthānaṃ sarpiḥpradhānake. sthālīpāke vyāhṛtināṃ yat tat sviṣṭakṛtottaraṃ āhutīnāṃ pradhānānāṃ nānādaivatachandasāṃ yas tu kālas tad āvāpasthānam itācyate budhaiḥ tatas tat taṃ ma ārabhya prāyaścittāhutiḥ kramāt.
[9]:
See above, chap. 8, 17.
[10]:
This Sūtra, though reckoned in the Indian tradition to p. 30 chap. 9, seems to me clearly to belong to the next chapter, and to contain the subject, to which the predicate is given in 10, 1. For pratiśrute, see chap. 7, 1.