1. The Sîmantonnayana (or parting of the pregnant wife’s hair, is performed) in her first pregnancy, in the fourth month.
2. (The husband) serves food to Brâhmanas and causes them to pronounce auspicious wishes; then, after (the ceremonies) from the putting (of wood) on the fire down to the Ânyabhâga oblations (have been performed), he offers the oblations (indicated in the) next (Mantras, M. II, 11, 1-8), while (the wife) takes hold of him, and enters upon the (performance) of the Gaya and following oblations.
3. Having performed (the rites) down to the sprinkling (of water) round (the fire), he makes her sit down to the west of the fire, facing the east, and parts her hair upwards (i.e. beginning from the front) with a porcupine’s quill that has three white spots, [ p. 280 ] with three Darbha blades, and with a bunch of unripe Udumbara fruits, with the Vyâhritis or with the two next (verses, II, 11, 9. 10).
4. He says to two lute-players, ‘Sing!’
5. Of the next two (verses, II, 11, 11. 12) the first (is to be sung on this occasion) among the (people of the) Sâlvas.
6. [1] The second (is to be used) for Brâhmanas; and the river near which they dwell is to be named.
7. [2] He ties barley-grains with young shoots (to the head of the wife); then she keeps silence until the stars appear.
8. When the stars have appeared, he goes (with his wife) towards the east or north, touches a calf, and murmurs the Vyâhritis; then she breaks her silence.
9. The Pumsavana (i.e. the ceremony to secure the birth of a male child) is performed when the pregnancy has become visible, under the constellation Tishya.
10. From a branch of a Nyagrodha tree, which points eastward or northward, he takes a shoot with two (fruits that look like) testicles. The putting (of wood) on the fire, &c., is performed as at the Sîmantonnayana (Sûtra 2).
11. He causes a girl who has not yet attained maturity to pound (the Nyagrodha shoot) on an upper mill-stone with another upper mill-stone, and to pour water on it; then he makes his wife lie [ p. 281 ] down on her back to the west of the fire, facing the east, and inserts (the pounded substance) with his thumb into her right nostril, with the next Yagus (II, 11, 13).
12. Then she will give birth to a son.
13. Here follows the ceremony to secure a quick deliverance.
14. With a shallow cup that has not been used before, he draws water in the direction of the river’s current; at his wife s feet he lays down a Tûryantî plant; he should then touch his wife, who is soon to be delivered, on the head, with the next Yagus (II, 11, 14), and should sprinkle her with the water, with the next (three) verses (II, 11, 15-17).
15. Yadi _garâyu na pated evam_vihitâbhir evâdbhir uttarâbhyâm (II, 11, 18. 19) avokshet.
1. [3] After he has touched the new-born child with the Vâtsapra hymn (Taitt. Samh. IV, 2, 2; M. II, 11, 20), and has taken him on his lap with the next Yamus (M. II, II, 21), with the next (three) (verses—II, 11, 22; 12, 1. 2—one by one) he addresses the child, kisses him on his head, and murmurs (the third verse) into his right ear.
2. And he gives him a Nakshatra name.
3. That is secret.
4. He pours together honey and ghee; into this (mixture) he dips a piece of gold which he has tied with a noose to a Darbha blade. With the next (three) formulas (II, 12, 3-5) he gives the boy (by [ p. 282 ] means of the piece of gold, some of the mixture) to eat. With the next five (verses, II, 12, 6-10) he bathes him. Then he pours curds and ghee together and gives him this (mixture which is called) ‘sprinkled butter’ (prishadâriya) to eat out of a brass vessel, with the Vyâhritis to which the syllable ‘Om’ is added as the fourth (II, 12, 11-14). The remainder he should mix with water and pour out in a cow-stable.
5. With the next (verse, M. II, 13, 1) he places (the child) in the mother’s lap; with the next (II, 13, 2) he causes her to give him her right breast; with the next two (verses, II, 13, 3. 4) he touches the earth, and after (the child) has been laid down, (he touches him) with the next (formula, II, 13, 5).
6. With the next Yagus (II, 13, 6) he places a water-pot at (the child’s) head, sacrifices mustard seeds and rice-chaff with his joined hands three times with each of the next (formulas, II, 13, 7-14, 2), repeating each time the word Svâhâ, and says (to the people who are accustomed to enter the room in which his wife lies), ‘Whenever you enter, strew silently (mustard seeds with rice-chaff) on the fire.’
7. This is to be done until the ten days (after the child’s birth) have elapsed.
8. On the tenth day, after (the mother) has risen and taken a bath, he gives a name to the son. The father and the mother (should pronounce that name first).
9. (It should be a name) of two syllables or of four syllables; the first part should be a noun; the second a verb; it should have a long vowel (or) the Visarga at the end, should begin with a sonant, and contain a semi-vowel. [ p. 283 ]
10, Or it should contain the particle su, for such a name has a firm foundation; thus it is said in a Brâhmana.
11. A girl’s name should have an odd number of syllables.
12. [4] When (the father) returns from a journey, he should address the child and kiss him on his head with the next two (verses, M. II, 14, 3. 4), and should murmur the next Mantras (II, 14, 5) into his right ear.
13. With the next Yagus (II, 14, 6) he addresses a daughter (when returning from a journey).
1. In the sixth month after the child’s birth he serves food to Brâhmanas and causes them to pronounce auspicious wishes; then he should pour together curds, honey, ghee, and boiled rice, and should give (the mixture) to the boy to eat, with the next (four) Mantras (II, 14, 7-10);
2. (He should feed him) with partridge, according to some (teachers).
3. In the third year after his birth the Kaula (or tonsure is performed) under (the Nakshatra of) the two Punarvasus.
4. [5] Brâhmanas are entertained with food as at the initiation (Upanayana).
5. [6] The putting (of wood) on the fire, &c. (is performed) as at the Sîmantonnayana.
6. [7] He makes (the boy) sit down to the west of [ p. 284 ] the fire, facing the east, combs his hair silently with a porcupine’s quill that has three white spots, with three Darbha blades, and with a bunch of unripe Udumbara fruits; and he arranges the locks in the fashion of his ancestral Rishis,
7. Or according to their family custom.
8. [8] The ceremonies beginning with the pouring together of (warm and cold) water and ending with the putting down of the hair are the same (as above; comp. M. II, 14, 11).
9. He puts down the razor after having washed it off.
10. [9] The ceremony is (repeated) three days with the (same razor). (Then) the rite is finished.
11. (The father) gives an optional gift (to the Brâhmana who has assisted).
12. The Godâna (or the ceremony of shaving the beard, is performed) in the sixteenth year, in exactly the same way or optionally under another constellation.
13. [10] Or he may perform the Godâna sacred to Agni.
14. [11] Some prescribe the keeping of a vow through one year in connection with the Godâna. [ p. 285 ]
15. The difference (between the Kaula and the Godâna) is that (at the Godâna) the whole hair is shaven (without leaving the locks).
16. [12] According to the followers of the Sâma-veda he should ‘touch water.’
280:6 Âsvalâyana I, 14, 7; Pâraskara I, 15, 8. Comp. Zeitschrift der D. M. Gesellschaft, XXXIX, 88. ↩︎
280:7 7, 8. Sudarsanârya mentions that instead of the singular, ‘She keeps silence, she breaks her silence,’ some read the dual, so that the husband and his wife are referred to. ↩︎
281:1 15, 1. We ought to read uttarâbhir, not uttarâbhyâm. Comp. below, Sûtra 12. ↩︎
283:12 Comp. above, Sûtra 1. ↩︎
283:4 16, 4. See above, IV, 10, 5. ↩︎
283:5 See above, VI, 14. 2. ↩︎
283:6 Comp. VI, 14, 3. ↩︎
284:8 See IV, 10, 5-8. ↩︎
284:10 I translate as if the words tena tryaham and karmanivrittih formed two Sûtras. ↩︎
284:13 ‘Having performed the same rites as at the opening of the study of the Âgneya-kânda, he performs an Upasthâna to the deities as taught with regard to the Sukriyavrata.’ Haradatta.—‘After the ceremonies down to the Ânyabhâgas have been performed, one chief oblation of Ânya is offered with the formula, “To Agni, the Rishi of the Kânda, svâhâ!”’ Sudarnanârya. ↩︎
284:14 Comp. the statements given in the note on Gobhila III, ↩︎
285:16 The udakopasparsana according to the rite of the Sâmavedins is described by Gobhila, I, 2, 5 seqq. ↩︎