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 II, Khaṇḍa 7

1[1]. Now (follows the exposition) of the study of the Veda.

2[2]. Both sit down to the north of the fire,

3. The teacher with his face to the east, the other one to the west.

4[3]. After (the student) has reverentially saluted the teacher's feet and has sprinkled his (own) hands (with water),

5. And has kneeled down with his right knee on young Kuśa shoots at their roots,

6[4]. And has grasped round (those Kuśa shoots) in 'heir middle with his hands, holding the right uppermost,

7. The teacher, having seized them at their tops with his left hand, and with his right hand sprinkling them with water, then makes the other say:

8[5]. 'Recite the Sāvitrī, sir!' says the other.

9. 'I recite the Sāvitrī to thee!' says the teacher.

10[6]. 'Recite the Gāyatrī, sir!' says the other.

'I recite the Gāyatrī to thee!' says the teacher.

11. 'Recite the verse of Viśvāmitra, sir!' says the other.

'I recite the verse of Viśvāmitra to thee!' says the teacher.

12. 'Recite the Ṛṣis, sir!' says the other.

I recite the Ṛṣis to thee!' says the teacher.

13. 'Recite the deities, sir!' says the other.

'I recite the deities to thee!' says the teacher.

14. 'Recite the metres, sir!' says the other.

'I recite the metres to thee!' says the teacher.

15. 'Recite the Śruti, sir!' says the other.

'I recite the Śruti to thee!' says the teacher.

16. 'Recite the Smṛti, sir!' says the other.

'I recite the Smṛti to thee!' says the teacher.

17[7]. 'Recite faith and insight, sir!' says the other.

'I recite faith and insight to thee!' says the teacher.

18[8]. In that way, according to what Ṛṣi each hymn belongs to and what its deity and its metre is, thus (with the corresponding indications of Ṛṣi, &c.) let him recite each hymn;

19[9]. Or also, if he does not know the Ṛṣis, deities, and metres, the teacher recites this verse, 'That glorious (splendour) of Savitar' (Rig-veda III, 62, 10), pāda by pāda, hemistich by hemistich, (and finally) without a stop, and says, when he has finished, 'This (verse belongs to Savitar; it is a Gāyatrī; Viśvāmitra is its Ṛṣi).'

20. Let him thus recite (the hymns belonging to) each Ṛṣi, or (each) Anuvāka;

21[10]. Of the short hymns (in the tenth Maṇḍala) an Anuvāka,

22. Or as much as the master may think fit.

23. Or optionally he may recite the first and last hymn of (each) Ṛṣi,

24[11]. Or of (each) Anuvāka,

25. (Or) one (verse) of the beginning of each hymn.

26. The teacher may optionally say at the beginning of the hymn, 'This is the commencement.'

27[12]. This has been (further) explained in (the treatise about) the Ṛṣisvādhyāya.

28[13]. When (the lesson) is finished, he takes the young Kuśa shoots, makes of cow-dung a pit at their roots, and sprinkles water on the Kuśa (shoots) for each hymn.

29[14]. For the rest of the day standing and fasting.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

7, 1. Nārāyaṇa: 'Now (atha), i.e. after the observance of the Śukriya vrata,' &c. On the Sukriya vrata which has to be undergone before the Anuvacana treated of in this chapter can be performed, see the note on chap. 4, 1, and below, chap. II, 9. One would have expected that in the arrangement of Śāṅkhāyana the rites belonging to the Sukriya vrata would precede the exposition of the Anuvacana. Perhaps it was in consequence of the exact analogy of the Sukriya with the Śākvara, Vrātika, Aupaniṣada vratas, that the description of the former has been postponed till the latter had to be treated of.

[2]:

2 seq. Comp. above, chap. 2, 8 seq.

[3]:

The way in which this reverential salutation should be performed is described below, IV, 12, 1 seq.

[4]:

On dakṣiṇottarābhyām, see chap. 2, 11 and Nārāyaṇa's note there.

[5]:

8 seq. Comp. Weber's Indische Studien, vol. x, p. 131 seq.

[6]:

Comp. the note on chap. 5, 4-6. Nārāyaṇa states, in accordance with these Sūtras of the fifth chapter, that in case the student belongs to the second or third caste, an Ūha (i.e. a corresponding alteration of the formulas; from the Śrauta-sūtra, VI, 1, 3 the definition is quoted here śabdavikāram ūhaṃ bruvate) takes place. If he is a Kṣatriya, he has to say, 'Recite the Tṛṣṭubh, sir!'—'Recite the verse of Hiraṇyastūpa (Rig-veda I, 35, 2), sir!' A Vaiśya has to say, 'Recite the Jagatī, sir!'—'Recite the verse of Hiraṇyastūpa (or, of Vāmadeva, Rig-veda I, 35, 9 or IV, 40, 5), sir!'

[7]:

Comp. Indische Studien, X, 132, note 1.

[8]:

I do not think that Professor Weber (Indische Studien, X, 132) has quite exactly rendered the meaning of these Sūtras when he says, 'The teacher then (i.e. after the formula of Sūtra 17 has been pronounced) teaches him first the Ṛṣi, the deity, and the metre of each Mantra. In case he does not know them himself for a Mantra, he recites the holy Sāvitrī (tat Savitur vareṇyam). After this he teaches him in due order either (1) the single Ṛṣis, i.e. the hymns belonging to each Ṛṣi, or (2) the single Anuvākas,' &C.—It does not seem quite probable to me that the student should have had to learn first the Ṛṣis, deities, and metres of the whole Veda, before the text of the hymns was taught him; I rather believe that hymn by hymn the indication of the Ṛṣis, &c. preceded the anuvacana of the text itself, and with this opinion the statement of Nārāyaṇa agrees, 'Evaṃ pūrvoktena prakāreṇa ṛṣidevatāchandaḥpūrvakaṃ taṃ taṃ Agnim īḷa ityādikaṃ mantraṃ māṇavakāyācāryonubrūyāt.'

[9]:

According to Nārāyaṇa by esheti (literally, 'This [is the Ṛc]') it is meant that the teacher, after having recited the Sāvitrī in the three ways mentioned, should say to the student, 'This Ṛc is in the Gāyatrī metre. If recited pāda by pāda, it has three pādas. Thus also this Ṛc, if recited hemistich by hemistich, has two Avasānas (pauses), the first at the end of the hemistich, the second at the end of the third carma (or pāda). Thus also this Ṛc is recited without stopping; at the end of the three caraṇas, or of the twenty-four syllables, the pause (avasāna) should be made. Thus I recite to thee the Sāvitrī; I recite to thee the Gāyatrī; I recite to thee the verse of Viśvāmitra.' 'For,' adds Nārāyaṇa, 'if the Gāyatrī has been recited, the whole complex of the Veda being of that very p. 72 substance, a complete knowledge thereof has been produced.' The commentator then indicates a shorter form for the teacher's words which our Sūtra prescribes by esheti, 'This verse belongs to Savitar; it is a Gāyatrī; its Ṛṣi is Viśvāmitra.'

[10]:

The Kṣudrasūktas are the hymns Rig-veda X, 129-191.

[11]:

24 seq. This seems to be an abridged method by which students who had not the intention of becoming Vedic scholars, and probably chiefly students of the Kṣatriya and Vaiśya caste, could fulfil their duty of learning the Veda; a student who knew the first and last hymn of a Ṛṣi, or of an Anuvāka, was, as would seem from these Sūtras, by a sort of fiction considered as though he had known the whole portion belonging to that Ṛṣi, or the whole Anuvāka.

[12]:

Nārāyaṇa explains Ṛṣisvādhyāya by mantrasaṃhitā. He says, The Anuvācana which has been declared here, is to be understood also with regard to the svādhyāya, i.e. to the Saṃhitā of the Mantras.' I think there is a blunder in the MS., and instead of tad api svādhyāye . . . jñeyaṃ we ought to read tad ṛṣisvādhyāye . . . jñeyaṃ. In this case we should have to translate the quoted passage, '. . . is to be understood with regard to the Ṛṣisvādhyāya, i.e. to, &c.'—I think, however, that the true meaning of the Sūtra is different from what Nārāyaṇa believes it to be. The expression vyākhyātam apparently conveys a reference to another treatise in which the rules regarding the Ṛṣisvādhyāya would seem to have been fully set forth. The Śrauta-sūtra contains p. 73 no passage which could be the one here referred to; we may suppose, therefore, that either a chapter of a Prātiśākhya is quoted here, or a separate treatise on the special subject of the Ṛṣisvādhyāya. References to such treatises are found in the Sūtra texts in several instances, of which the most important is that in the Gobhila-Gṛhya I, 5, 13, 'On what day the moon becomes full, the knowledge thereof is contained in a special text; that one either should study or ascertain when the Parvan is from those who have studied it.'

[13]:

Nārāyaṇa: 'First stand the Mantras, then the Brāhmaṇa, because it contains the viniyoga (the ritual use of the Mantras), then the Smṛti texts such as Manu, &c. When he has repeated these texts to the student, after the end of the Anuvācana, the teacher should take from the student the Kuśa blades which had been taken up before for the sake of the Anuvācana (see Sūtras 5 seq.),' &c.—The teacher is made the subject of this rule also by Rāmacandra. On yathāsūktam Nārāyaṇa observes that according to some teachers these water oblations were directed to the Ṛṣis of the different hymns (ṛṣīn uddiśyeti kecit). This statement seems to be countenanced by IV, 6, 6. Comp. the note below on IV, 9, 1.

[14]:

'This rule concerns the Brahmacārin.' Nārāyaṇa. See also Āśvalāyana I, 22, 11.

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