| Grihya Sûtra of Hiranyakesin — Prasna I, Patala 4 | Title page | Grihya Sûtra of Hiranyakesin — Prasna I, Patala 6 |
1. When he has first seen the new moon, he sips water, and holding (a pot of) water (in his hands) he worships (the moon) with the four (verses), ‘Increase’ (Taitt. Samh. I, 4, 32), ‘May thy milk’ (ibid. IV, 2, 7, 4), ‘New and new again (the moon) becomes, being born’ (ibid. II, 4, 14, 1), ‘That Soma which the Âdityas make swell’ (ibid. II, 4, 14, 1). [ p. 180 ]
2. [2] When he has yawned, he murmurs, ‘(May) will and insight (dwell) in me.’
3. [3] If the skirt (of his garment) is blown upon him (by the wind), he murmurs, ‘A skirt art thou. Thou art not a thunderbolt. Adoration be to thee. Do no haft to me.’
4. He should tear off a thread (from that skirt) and should blow it away with his mouth.
5. [4] If a bird has befouled him with its excrements, he murmurs, ‘The birds that timidly fly together with the destroyers, shall pour out on me happy, blissful splendour and vigour.’
Then let him wipe off that (dirt) with something else than his hand, and let him wash himself with water.
6. [5] ‘From the sky, from the wide air a drop of water has fallen down on me, bringing luck. With my senses, with my mind I have united myself, protected by the prayer that is brought forth by the righteous ones’—this (verse) he should murmur, if a drop of water unexpectedly falls down on him.
7. [6] ‘If a fruit has fallen down from the top of a tree, or from the air, it is Vâyu (who has made it fall). Where it has touched our bodies or the garment, (there) may the waters drive away destruction’—this (verse) he should murmur, if a fruit unexpectedly falls down on him.
8. [7] ‘Adoration to him who dwells at the cross-roads, [ p. 181 ] whose arrow is the wind, to Rudra! Adoration to Rudra who dwells at the cross-roads!’—this (formula) he murmurs when he comes to a cross-road;
9. ‘Adoration to him who dwells among cattle, whose arrow is the wind, to Rudra! Adoration to Rudra who dwells among cattle!’—thus at a dung-heap;
10. ‘Adoration to him who dwells among the serpents, whose arrow is the wind, to Rudra! Adoration to Rudra who dwells among the serpents!’—thus at a place that is frequented by serpents.
11. ‘Adoration to him who dwells in the air, whose arrow is the wind, to Rudra! Adoration to Rudra who dwells in the air!’—this (formula) let him murmur, if overtaken by a tornado.
12. ‘Adoration to him who dwells in the waters, whose arrow is the wind, to Rudra! Adoration to Rudra who dwells in the waters!’—this (formula) he murmurs when plunging into a river which is full of water.
13. ‘Adoration to him who dwells there, whose arrow is the wind, to Rudra! Adoration to Rudra who dwells there!’—this (formula) he murmurs when approaching a beautiful place, a sacrificial site, or a big tree.
14. [8] If the sun rises whilst he is sleeping, he shall fast that day and shall stand silent during that day;
15. The same during the night, if the sun sets whilst he sleeps.
16. [9] Let him not touch a sacrificial post. By [ p. 182 ] touching it, he would bring upon himself (the guilt of) whatever faults have been committed at that sacrifice. If he touches one (sacrificial post), he should say, ‘This is thy wind;’ if two (posts), ‘These are thy two winds;’ if many (posts), ‘These are thy winds.’
17. [10] ‘The voices that are heard after us (?) and around us, the praise that is heard, and the voices of the birds, the deer’s running (?) athwart: that we fear (?) from our enemies’—this (verse) he murmurs when setting out on a road.
18. [11] 'Like an Udgât_ri_, O bird, thou singest the Sâman; like a Brahman’s son thou recitest thy hymn, when the Soma is pressed.
‘A blessing on us, O bird; bring us luck and be kind towards us!’—(This Mantra) he murmurs against an inauspicious bird;
19. [12] ‘If thou raisest thy divine voice, entering upon living beings, drive away our enemies by thy voice. O death, lead them to death!’—(thus) against a solitary jackal.
20. Then he throws before the (jackal, as it were), a fire-brand that burns at both ends, towards that region (in which the jackal’s voice is heard), with (the words), ‘Fire! Speak to the fire! Death! Speak to the death!’ Then he touches water, [ p. 183 ]
21. And worships (the jackal) with the Anuvâka, ‘Thou art mighty, thou carriest away’ (Taitt. Samhitâ I, 3, 3).
1. A she-wolf (he addresses) with (the verse), ‘Whether incited by others or whether on its own accord the Bhayedaka (? Bhayodaka, var. lect.) utters this cry, may Indra and Agni, united with Brahman, render it blissful to us in our house.’
2. [13] A bird (he addresses) with (the verse), ‘Thou fliest, stretching out thy legs; the left eye . . .; may nothing here suffer harm (through thee);’
3. An owl (piṅgalâ) with (the verse), ‘The bird with the golden wings flies to the abode of the gods. Flying round the village from left to right portend us luck by thy cry, O owl!’
4. [14] 'May my faculties return into me; may life return, prosperity return; may the divine power return into me; may my goods return to me.
‘And may these fires that are stationed on the (altars called) Dhishnyâs, be in good order here, each in its right place. Svâhâ!
‘My self has returned, life has returned to me; breath has returned, design has returned to me. (Agni) Vaisvânara, grown strong with his rays, may he dwell in my mind, the standard of immortality. Svâhâ!
‘The food which is eaten in the evening, that does [ p. 184 ] not satiate in the morning him whom hunger assails. May all that (which we have seen in our dreams), do no harm to us, for it has not been seen by day. To Day svâhâ!’—with these (verses) he sacrifices sesamum seeds mixed with Âgya, if he has seen a bad dream.
5. [15] Now the following expiations for portents are prescribed. A dove sits down on the hearth, or the bees make honey in his house, or a cow (that is not a calf) sucks another cow, or a post puts forth shoots, or an anthill has arisen (in his house): cases like these (require the following expiation):
6. [16] He should bathe in the morning, should put on clean garments, should show patience (with everybody) during the day, and should speak (only) with Brâhmanas. Having put wood on the fire in an inner apartment, and having performed the rites down to the Vyâhnti oblations, he sacrifices with (the verses), ‘This, O Varuna,’ &c. (see above I, 2, 8, 16, down to the end of the Sûtra). Then he serves food to the Brâhmanas and causes them to say, 'An auspicious day! Hail! Good luck!
1. [17] ‘May Indra and Agni make you go. May the two Asvins protect you. Bshaspati is your herdsman. May Pûshan drive you back again’— [ p. 185 ] this (verse) he recites over the cows when they go away (to their pasture-grounds), and (the verse), ‘May Pûshan go after our cows’ (Taitt. Sash. IV, 1, 11, 2).
2. With (the verse), ‘These cows that have come hither, free from disease and prolific, may they swim (full of wealth) like rivers; may they pour out (wealth), as (rivers discharge their floods) into the ocean’—he looks at the cows, when they are coming back.
3. [18] With (the formula), ‘You are a stand at rest; may I (?) become your stand at rest. You are immovable. Do not move from me. May I not move from you, the blessed ones’—(he looks at them) when they are standing still.
4. With (the formula), ‘I see you full of sap. Full of sap you shall see me’—(he looks at them) when they are gone into the stable, and with (the formula), ‘May I be prosperous through your thousandfold prospering.’
5. [19] Then having put wood on the fire amid the cows, and having performed the rites down to the Vyâhriti (oblations), he makes oblations of milk with (the verses),
‘Blaze brightly, O Gâtavedas, driving destruction away from me. Bring me cattle and maintenance from all quarters of the heaven. Svâhâ!
‘May Gâtavedas do no harm to us, to cows and horses, to men and to all that moves. Come hither, [ p. 186 ] Agni, fearlessly; make me attain to welfare! Svâhâ!’—
And with (the two verses), ‘This is the influx of the waters,’ and ‘Adoration to thee, the rapid one, the shining one’ (Taitt. Samh. IV, 6, 1, 3).
6. Then follow oblations with the verses), ‘This, O Varuna’ (&c.; see I, 2, 8, 16, down to the end of the Sûtra).
End of the Fifth Patala.
| Grihya Sûtra of Hiranyakesin — Prasna I, Patala 4 | Title page | Grihya Sûtra of Hiranyakesin — Prasna I, Patala 6 |
179:16 This chapter contains different Prâyassittas. ↩︎
180:2 Ârivalâyana-Grihya. III, 6, 7. ↩︎
180:3 Pâraskara III, 15, 17. ↩︎
180:5 I propose to read, nirrithaih saha. ↩︎
180:6 Atharva-veda VI, 124, 1. Read sukritâ_mriri_tena. ↩︎
180:7 Atharva-veda VI, 124, 2. The Atharva-veda shows the way to correct the corrupt third Pâda. ↩︎
180:8 8 seq. Comp. Pâraskara III, 15, 7 seq. ↩︎
181:14 14, 15. Âpastamba II, 5, 1 2, 13. 14; Gobhila III, 3, 34, &c. ↩︎
181:16 Gobhila III, 3, 34. Should it be esha te vâyur iti? ↩︎
182:17 The Mantra is very corrupt. Perhaps anihûtam should be corrected into anuhûtam, which is the reading of the Âpastambîya Mantrapâtha. In the last Pâda bhayâmasi is corrupt; the meaning seems to be, ‘that we (avert from ourselves and) turn it to our enemies.’ Probably Dr. Kirste is right in reading bhathâmasi. ↩︎
182:18 Comp. Rig-veda II, 43, 2. ↩︎
182:19 As to ekasrika, ‘solitary jackal,’ comp. Bühler’s note on Âpastamba I, 3, 10, 17 (S.B.E., II, 38). Mâtridatta says, srigâlo mrigariabda_mrinriririk_yate. ↩︎
183:2 17, 2. The commentary explains sakuni (bird) by dhvâṅksha (crow). In the translation of the Mantra (Taitt. Âr. IV, 35) I have left out the unintelligible words nipepi sa. The way to correct the last Pâda is shown by Atharva-veda VI, 57, 3; X, 5, 23. ↩︎
183:4 Comp. Ârivalâyana-Grihya III, 6, 8. ↩︎
184:5 Sâṅkhâyana V, 5. 8. 11; Ârivalâyana III, 7, &c. Kuptvâ is corrupt; we should expect a locative. We ought to correct kuptvâm, as Dr. Kirste has observed, comp. Âpastamba-Grihya VIII, 23, 9. ↩︎
184:6 Comp. above, I, 4, 14, 2; 15, 5; I, 2, 8, 16; I, 3, 9, 7. 8. ↩︎
184:1 18, 1 seq. Comp. Sâṅkhâyana III, 9; Gobhila III, 6; Âsvalâyana II, 10. ↩︎
185:3 The Mantra is very corrupt. I think it ought to be corrected somehow in the following way: samsthâ stha samsthâ vo bhtûyâsam amyutâ stha ma ma_kmkmdhmmmsmk_yoshi. Comp. also Dr. Kirste’s note. ↩︎
185:5 In the second verse I propose to change abibhrad into p. 186 abibhyad; comp. Atharva-veda XIX, 65, 1: ava tâ_m g G k_ishâ divam â roha sûrya. The last words of this verse should be sriyam mâ pratipâdaya, or something similar. ↩︎