Sacred Texts  Hinduism  Index  Previous  Next 

The Grihya Sutras, Part 1 (SBE29), by Hermann Oldenberg, [1886], at sacred-texts.com


KANDIKÂ 2.

1. The setting up of the Âvasathya (or sacred domestic) fire (is performed) at the time of his wedding.

p. 271

2. At the time of the division of the inheritance, according to some (teachers).

3 After he has fetched fire from the house of a Vaisya who is rich in cattle,—

4. All ceremonies are performed as at the cooking of the kâtushprâsya food.

5. Some (say that) the handing over of the kindling sticks (should take place),

6. Because the Sruti says, 'There are five great sacrifices.'

7. Having cooked a mess of sacrificial food for the deities of the Agnyâdheya, and having sacrificed the two Âgya portions, he sacrifices (the following) Âgya oblations:

8. 'Thou, Agni' (Vâg. Samhitâ XXI, 3); 'Thus

p. 272

thou, Agni' (Vâg. Samhitâ XXI, 4); 'This, O Varuna' (XXI, 1); 'For this I entreat thee' (XXI, 2); 'Thy hundred' (Kâty.-Sraut. XXV, 1, 11); 'And quick, Agni' (Kâty. l.l.); 'The highest one' (Vâg. Samh. XII, 12); 'Be both to us' (ibid. V, 3)—with (these verses he sacrifices) eight (oblations) before (the oblations of cooked food).

9. Thus he sacrifices also afterwards, after he has made oblations of the mess of cooked food to the deities of the Agnyâdheya.

10. And to (Agni) Svishtakrit,

11 11. With (the formulas), 'Into the quick one (has been put) Agni's (sacrificial portion) over which the word vashat has been spoken;' 'What I have done too much;' 'O gods who know the way.'

12 12. Having sacrificed the Barhis, he partakes (of the sacrificial food).

13. Then food is given to the Brâhmanas.


Footnotes

270:1 2, 1. Comp. Sâṅkhâyana-Grihya I, 1, 3.

271:2 Sâṅkhâyana I, 1, 4.

271:3 Sâṅkhâyana I, 1, 8.

271:4 The kâtushprâsya food is prepared, at the time of the setting up of the Srauta fires, for the four chief officiating priests of the Srauta sacrifices. Comp. Satapatha Brâhmana II, 1, 4. Kâtyâyana's corresponding rules with regard to the Âdhâna of the Srauta fires are found at IV, 7, 15. 16.

271:5 Comp. the remarks on this Sûtra, in the Introduction, pp. 265 seq.

271:6 Satapatha Brâhmana XI, 5, 6, 1: 'There are five great sacrifices which are great Sattras, viz. the sacrifice to living beings, the sacrifice to men, the sacrifice to the Manes, the sacrifice to the gods, the Brahmayagña.' As the Grihya ceremonies are included here under the category of mahâyagñâs or great sacrifices, they require, according to the teachers whose opinion is stated in Sûtra 5, a form of the Agnyâdhâna (setting up of the sacred fire) analogous to the Agnyâdhâna of the Srauta ritual, and containing, like that Âdhâna, the act of the Aranipradâna or handing over of the kindling woods (Sûtra 5).

271:7 The deities of the Agnyâdheya, or of the Srauta ceremony corresponding to the Grihya rite here treated of, are Agni pavamâna, Agni pâvaka, Agni suki, Aditi. On the Âgyabhâgas, see Sâṅkhâyana I, 9, 7, &c.

271:8 The verses Vâg. Samh. XXI, 3, 4, the two verses quoted p. 272 Kâty. XXV, 1, 11, and fifthly the verse Vâg. Samh. XII, 12, are prescribed for the Sarvaprâyaskitta (or general expiatory ceremony), see Kâtyâyana l.l.

272:11 Professor Stenzler, following Gayarâma, takes the whole as one Mantra, which he translates: 'Ungehemmet sei Agni's Spende, die durch die That ich überreich machte, bahnschaffende Götter!' But the words yat karmanâtyarîrikam are the opening words of a Mantra quoted Satapatha Brâhmana XIV, 9, 4, 24, (comp. also Âsvalâyana-Grihya I, 10, 23; the connection in which atyarîrikam there stands, shows that the word designates a mistake made in the sacrificial work by doing too much.) The words devâ gâtuvidah are the Pratîka of Vâg. Samhitâ VIII, 21. Thus I have no doubt that also ayâsy Agner vashatkritam (or possibly ayâsy Agner (?) and vashatkritam (?)) is a Pratîka. Of course, the translation of these words must remain uncertain until the Mantra to which they belong has been discovered.

272:12 On the throwing into the fire of the Barhis, comp. Kâtyâyana III, 8.


Next: I, 3