०२

One ought to let the beginnings of a sacrificial act coincide with the end of the Mantras.

Commentary

The mantra which indicates the nature and purpose of a sacrificial act should come first, and as soon as it has been finished the act should follow. See Katy. I, 3, 5.

1. (A priest) should cause the end of the formulae coincide with the beginnings of each formula.

In the case of the āghāra, sprinkling of clarified butter, and of dhārā, pouring out of Soma, the beginning of the mantra and the act takes place at the same time.

2. At the time of the Āghāras¹ and that of the Vasordhāra² the beginning of the formula should conincide with the beginning of the ritual.

Mantras are indicated by their first words.

Commentary

These first words are often called Pratīkas, and rules are given in Āśvalāyana’s Śrauta-sūtras I, 1, 17-19, as to the number of words that should form such a pratīka, if it is meant for one verse, for three verses, or for a whole hymn. According to Āśvalāyana, if one foot is quoted, it is meant for a verse; if an imperfect foot of an initial verse is quoted, it is meant for a whole hymn; if more than a foot is quoted, it is meant for three verses.

3. The formulae are prescribed by means of their beginnings.

One should know that with the beginning of a following mantra, the former mantra is finished.

4. One should know the end of the former formula by means of the beginning of the latter (one).

In the case of Hotrā and Yājamāna-mantras, an aggregation takes place.

Commentary

Hotrās are mantras recited by the Hotṛ-priest. Yājamānās are mantras recited by the sacrificer himself. They are hymns which accompany, but do not enjoin any sacrificial act.

5. In connection with the verses to be recited by the Hotr̥ and the verses to be recited by the sacrificer there should be aggregation.

In the case of the Yājyās and Anuvākyās this (the aggregation) is optional.

6. In the offering-verses and in the sacrificial verses there should be an option.

It is the same with numbers.

Commentary

If we read that, as in the case of fees to be given to priests, two, seven, eleven, twelve, twenty-one, sixty, or a hundred, this means that either one or the other, not that all should be given at the same time.

7. Similarly in connection with the number (of sacrificial gifts).

But accumulation is meant in the buying (of Soma), in the redemption, and in initiation.

Commentary

When it is said that Soma is bought for a goat, gold, &c., that it is re-bought from the priests by means of a fee, or that at the time of the Dīkṣā, the purification and initiation of a sacrificer, clothes, gold, grain, &c., should be given, these are cases not of aut-aut but of et-et.

The Soma-plant, which is supposed to be bought from northern barbarians, is botanically described in an Āyur-vedic extract, quoted in the Dhūrtasvāmi-bhāṣyaṭīkā (MS. E.I.H. 531, p. 3^(b)), as

śyāmālāmlā ca niṣpatrā kṣīriṇī tvaci māṃsalā, śleshmalā vamanī vallī somākhyā chāgabhojanam. ‘The creeper called Soma is dark, sour, without leaves, milky, fleshy on the surface, producing phlegm and vomiting, food for goats.’

This passage, quoted from some Āyur-vedic text, is still the only one which gives an approximative description of the Soma-plant. Dr. Hooker says that the predicates ‘sour and milky’ point to Sarcostemma, but the question is not decided yet. For further information see George Watt, The Soma Plant, an extract from the third volume of the Dictionary of Economic Products of India, and Hillebrandt, Vedische Mythologie, pp. 14 seq.

8. For Soma-purchase,¹ bargaining, the consecration,² there should be aggregation of the things.

If one has performed an offering to Rudra, to the Rākṣasas, to Nirṛti, or to the Pitṛs, if one has cut or broken or thrown away anything, or rubbed oneself, &c., one should touch water.

Commentary

The touching of water is for the sake of purification. Nirasana is left out in some MSS. The ca, inserted after abhimarśanāni, is explained, as usual, as including other acts also, corresponding to our etc.

9. Everytime after having done an act (or recited a form ula) connected with Rudra¹, Rakṣas² (evil beings) Nirr̥ti³ or ancestors,⁴ or having done an act of cutting,⁵ breaking,⁶ throwing⁷ and touching oneself,⁸ (the Adhvaryu) should touch water.⁹

All priestly performances take place on the northern side of the Vihāra.

Commentary

Uttarata-upacāraḥ has to be taken as a compound. Vihāra is explained as vihriyante’gnayaḥ pātrāṇi ca yasmin deśe, i.e. the sacrificial ground. Upacāra is explained as adhvaryvādīnāṃ saṃcaraḥ, and this saṃcara, according to Kātyāyana I, 3, 42, is the path between the Cātvāla and Utkara, the Utkara being on the west, the praṇītās on the east of the Vihāra. Kātyāyana I, 8, 26, expresses the same rule by uttarata-upacāro yajñaḥ, the vihāra being the place where the yajña takes place.

10. On the Vihāra (sacrificial ground) the work is done towards the north.¹

The priest should never turn away from the fire, i.e. should never turn his back on the altar.

11. One should not turn one’s back to the fire.

Nor from the Vihāra.

12. (Similarly one should not turn one’s back) to the Vihāra (the place of performance).

Sacrificial utensils should be turned inside, the performers being outside.

Commentary

The meaning is that the priest should carry such things is spoons, vessels, &c., holding them towards the altar. The sacrificer and his wife should likewise be on the inside of the priest, and the priests should take precedence sideways according to their rank.

13. The utensils of the sacrifice are inner (from the point of view of the sacrificial ritual); the men are outer.

After a sacrificial object has been hallowed by a Mantra, the priest should not toss it about.

14. One should not toss about a sacrificial utensil on which formula has been recited.

Sacrificial acts intended for the gods, should be performed by the priest towards the east or towards the north, after he has placed the Brahmanic cord over the left and under the right arm (yajñopavītin), and turning towards the right.

15. Carrying the sacrificial garment on the left shoulder and under the right armpit, one should carry out the activities connected to gods, ending in the east or ending in the north and one goes always in a clock-wise manner.

Sacrificial acts intended for the Fathers should be performed by the priest towards the south, after he has placed the Brahmanic cord over the right and under the left arm (prācīnāvītin), and turning towards the left.

16. Wearing one’s sacrificial garment on the right shoulder and under the left armpit one should carry out the activities connected with ancestors, ending in the south; and (one goes) in an anti-clock-wise manner.

Ropes which have to be joined, should be joined by the priest from left to right, after having tied them from right to left.

17. One should bring together the strings which already are brought together in a clock-wise manner after having first woven them in an anti-clockwise manner.¹

Ropes which are not joined (single ropes), should be tied by the priest from left to right.

Commentary

The exact process here intended is not quite clear. The ropes seem to have been made of vegetable fibres. See Katy. I, 3,15-17.

18. One should bring together the strings which already are not brought together, in a clock-wise manner.¹

Let a man sacrifice with the Amāvāsyā sacrifice at the time of the Amāvāsyā, new moon.

Commentary

Amā-vāsyā is the dwelling together, i.e. the conjunction, of sun and moon, an astronomical expression which was adopted in the common language of the people at a very early time. It does not occur, however, in the Ṛg-veda. In our Sūtra amāvāsyā is used in the sense both of new moon and new-moon sacrifice.

19. One should perform the New-moon-sacrifice on the New-moon-day

Let a man observe that full-moon day as a day of abstinence on which the moon comes out full before.

Commentary

The full moon (paurṇamāsī) is really the very moment on which the moon is full and therefore begins to decrease. That moment on which sun and moon are, as the Hindus said, at the greatest distance from each other, is called the parva-sandhi, the juncture of the two phases of the moon. Thus the name of paurṇamāsī belongs to the last day of the one and to the first day (pratipad) of the other phase, and both days might be called paurṇamāsī. If therefore the moon is full on the afternoon, the evening, or the twilight of one day, that day should be observed as a fast-day, and the next day should be the day of sacrifice.

The meaning of purastād, which I have translated by before, is doubtful. One commentator says it has no object, and should be dropped, purastād ity etat padam asmin sūtra idānīm anvayaṃ na labhate prayojanābhāvāt. Purastād, before, may, however, mean before the second day, on which the real sacrifice takes place, and the commentator mentions purastāt-paurṇamāsī as a name of the caturdaśī-yuktā, i.e. the full moon beginning on the fourteenth day. The same kind of full moon is also called Anumati, Pūrvā-paurṇamāsī, and Sandhyā-paurṇamāsī, while that which takes place on the pratipad, the first day of the lunar phase, is called Rākā, Uttarā-paurṇamāsī, Astamitoditā, and Śvaḥpūritā.

Corresponding to these two kinds of Paurṇamāsī there are also two kinds of Amāvāsyā. That which falls on the fourteenth day is called Pūrvā-amāvāsyā, or Sinīvālī, the ἕνη καὶ νέα; that which falls on the pratipad, the first day of the new phase, is called Kuhū, Uttarā-amāvāsyā. Śvoyuktā. See also Ait.-Brāhm. II, 4; Nir. XI, 31-32.

21. One should observe fast on that Full-moon-day on which the Full-moon rises in the east;

Or the day when one says, To-morrow it will be full.

Commentary

In that case the day before should be observed as a day of abstinence. The real full moon would then take place in the fore-noon, pūrvāhṇe, of the next day. Abstinence, upavāsa, consists in abstaining from meat and from maithuna, in shaving beard and head, cutting the nails, and, what seems a curious provision, in speaking the truth. See Kāty.-Śrauta-sūtras II, I, 8-12.

22. on the day before it will be full.

The Vājasaneyins mention a third, the Kharvikā full moon.

Commentary

Kharva means small. If one divides the night into twelve parts, and if in a portion of the twelfth part the greatest distance of sun and moon takes place, then the full moon is called kharvikā, also kṣīṇā.

Or, if on the sixteenth day, the full moon takes place before noon, that also is called kharvikā paurṇamāsī. In that case abstinence or fasting takes place on the sixteenth day (tasyāṃ ṣoḍaśe’hany upavāsaḥ). Both paurṇamāsīs are also called sadyaskālā.

23. The Vājasaneyins think Kharvikā¹ as the third Full moon-day.

Let a man observe that new-moon day (amāvāsyā) as a day of abstinence, on which the moon is not seen.

Commentary

This Sūtra has to be connected with Sūtra LXV. The abstinence takes place on the day, if the actual new moon, the nearest approach of sun and moon, falls on the afternoon, at night, or at twilight. And this new moon, the junction of the fifteenth day and the pratipad, is called Kuhū. We should read amāvāsyām.

24. The New-moon-day is that day on which (the moon) may not be seen

Or the day when one says, To-morrow they will not see it.

Commentary

In that case, when the real new moon takes place in the fore-noon, abstinence is observed on the day before, and the new moon is called Sinīvālī. Satyavrata reads śvo yukta iti vā instead of śvo na draṣṭāra iti vā. Draṣṭāraḥ should be explained as īkṣitāraḥ, ’they will not see it.’ There is much difference of opinion on this subject among different Śākhās, Sūtrakāras, and their commentators; see Taitt. Saṃh. III, 4, 9; Weber, Ind. Stud., V, p. 228.

25. or the day before it on which they will not see it.

The principal acts (pradhāna), prescribed in one (typical) performance, follow the same special rules (vidhāna).

Commentary

This Sūtra is variously explained: Satyavrata’s commentary, which I have followed in the translation, explains pradhānāni as āgneyādīni, i.e. the chief parts of such a sacrifice as the Darśa-pūrṇamāsa; vidhānāni as aṅgāni. Kapardisvāmin’s commentary also explains vidhānāni as the aṅgāni of a pradhānam; pradhānam as pūrṇamāsa, &c. It would therefore mean that such ceremonies as the āgneya (aṣṭa-kapāla), āgnīṣomīya (ekādaśa-kapāla), and upāṃśu, which form the pradhānas of the Darśapūrṇamāsa, retain throughout the same vidhānas or aṅgas as prescribed in one Prakaraṇa, viz. the Darśapūrṇamāsa. The Aṅgas or members are all the things used for sacrificial purposes, milk, butter, grains, animals, &c.

26. The principal acts being prescribed in one and the same chapter (context) are to be considered as general injunctions.

The special rules are limited by (the purpose of) the (typical) performance (prakaraṇa).

Commentary

Here the rules (vidhis) are again the Aṅgas, which belong to a sacrifice, as the members belong to the body.

27. The injunctions are limited by means of a chapter (i.e. an injunction is valid only upto the end of the context).

If no special instruction is given (in the Śruti), the acts are general.

28. When there is no specific mention, (the injunctions are to be considered as) general.

If a special instruction is given, they are restricted.

Commentary

Nirdeśa is explained as viśeṣa-śruti, and the meaning is supposed to be that unless such a special rule is given, the Aṅgas of all the Pradhāna acts remain the same, as, for instance, the Paryagnikaraṇa, the Prayājas, &c. Special instructions are when it is said: payasā maitravaruṇaṃ srīṇāti, sruveṇa puroḍāśam anakti, he cooks the Maitravaruṇa with milk, he anoints the Puroḍāśa with the spoon, &c.

29. They are valid in specific things when there is specific mention.

The Aṣṭā-kapāla for Agni, the Ekādaśa-kapāla for Agnī-Shomau, and the Upāṃśuyāga (the muttered offering of butter), form the principal acts at the Paurṇamāsī, the full moon.

Commentary

The Aṣṭā-kapāla is the cake baked in eight cups, the Ekādaśa-kapāla that baked in eleven cups, and respectively destined for Agni and Soma. What is meant are the sacrificial acts for which these cakes are used.

30. A sacrificial bread prepared on eight potsherds for Agni, a sacrificial bread prepared on eleven potsherds for Agni and Soma, and the Upaṁaśu (inaudible) offering are the principal things in the Full-moon-sacrifice.

The other Homas are Aṅga.

31. The other libations are subsidiary to them.

The Aṣṭā-kapāla for Agni, the Ekādaśa-kapāla or Dvādaśa-kapāla for Indra-Agnī, form the principal acts at the Amāvāsyā, the new moon, in the case of one who does not sacrifice with Soma.

32. In the case of a sacrificer who has not performed a Soma-sacrifce, a sacrificial bread prepared on eight potsherds for Agni, a sacrificial bread prepared on eleven or twelve potsherds for Indra-Agni are the principal things in the New moon-sacrifice.

In the case of one who sacrifices with Soma, the second principal act is the Sāṃnāyya (both at the full-moon and new-moon sacrifices).

Commentary

The Sāṃnāyya is a mixture of dadhi and payas, sour and sweet milk, and is intended for Indra or Mahendra¹. It takes the place of the second Puroḍāśa at the new-moon sacrifice.

33. In the case of a sacrificer who has performed soma sacrifice, Saṁnāyya (mixture of curds and milk) takes the second place.

In the case of a Brāhmaṇa, who does not sacrifice with Soma, the Agnīṣomīya cake is omitted.

Commentary

This rule does not seem to be accepted by all schools. It is not found in Kātyāyana, and Hiraṇyakeśin observes: Nāsomayājino brāhmaṇasyāgnīṣomīyaḥ puroḍāśo vidyata ity ekeṣām. See Hillebrandt, l.c. p. iii.

34. In the case of a Brahmin sacrificer who has not performed a Soma-sacrifice, there should not be a sacrificial bread for Agni-soma in the Full-moon-sacrifice.

Without distinction of caste, the Aindrāgna offering is omitted for one who offers the Sāṃnāyya.

Commentary

Even though he be not a Somayājin, says the commentary.

This whole matter is summed up in Kapardin’s commentary: Amāvāsyāyām asomayājina aindrāgna-sāṃnāyyayor vikalpaḥ. Paurṇamāsyāṃ tv asomayājino brāhmaṇasyāgnīṣomīyayāgābhāvaḥ. Tadrahitāpi paurṇamāsī puruṣārthaṃ sādhayati. Tatra dvayor eva hi yāgayoḥ paurṇamāsīśabdavācyatvam asti, pratyekaṃ nāmayogāt. Tasmād agnīṣomīyayāgarahitāv evetarau puruṣārthaṃ sādhayataḥ.

35. In the case of a sacrificer who performs Saṁnāyya offering, there should be no (sacrificial bread for Indra-Agni) irrespective of his caste.

The Pitṛ-yajña, the sacrifice to the fathers, is not Aṅga (auxiliary) because its own time is prescribed.

Commentary

The text should be pitṛyajñaḥ svakālavidhānād anaṅgaḥ syāt. This sacrifice for the Manes, called also the Piṇḍa-pitṛyajña, falls under the new-moon sacrifice, but is to be considered as a pradhāna, a primary sacrifice, not as an aṅga, a member of the Darśa.

36. The ancestral sacrifice should not be considered as a subsidiary (of the New-moon-sacrifice) because it is prescribed (to be performed) at its own time.

Also, because it is enumerated like the Darśapūrṇamāsa sacrifice.

Commentary

This refers to such passages from the Brāhmaṇas as: There are four great sacrifices, the Agnihotram, the Darśapūrṇamāsau, the Cāturmāsyāni, and the Piṇḍa-pitṛyajñaḥ.

37. And also because it is counted (in the vedic texts) in similar manner (to that of other independent sacrifices).

Also, because, when the Amāvāsyā sacrifice is barred, the Pitṛyajña is seen to take place.

38. And because it is seen along with something prohibited (otherwise).¹

A principal act (pradhāna) is accompanied by auxiliary acts (aṅga).

Commentary

This Sūtra forms sometimes part of the preceding Sūtra, and would then refer to the Pitṛyajña only.

39. The principal (rite) is accompanied by the subsidiary.¹