१५

1. Now the Sīmantonnayana (or parting of the pregnant wife’s hair).

2 ¹ . (it is performed) like the Puṃsavana;

3. In her first pregnancy, in the sixth or eighth month.

4 ² . After he has cooked a mess of sacrificial food, containing sesamum and Mudga beans, and has sacrificed to Prajāpati, he parts for the wife, who is seated to the west of the fire on a soft chair, her hair upwards (i.e. beginning from the front) with a bunch containing an even number of unripe Udumbara fruits, and with three bunches of Darbha grass, with a porcupine’s quill that has three white spots, with a stick of Vīratara wood, and with a full spindle. with the words, ‘Bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ.’

5. Or (he parts the hair once) with each of the (three) Mahāvyāhṛtis.

6 ³ . He ties (the Udumbara fruits, &c.) to a string of three twisted threads with (the words), ‘Rich in sap is this tree; like the tree, rich in sap, be thou fruitful.’

7 ⁴ . (The husband) then says to two lute-players, ‘Sing ye the king, or if anybody else is still more valiant.’

8 ⁵ . Here some also prescribe a certain stanza (to be sung by the lute-players): ‘Soma alone is our king. May these human tribes dwell on thy banks, O (river) whose dominion is unbroken, N.N.!’ - here he names the name of the river near which they dwell.

9. Then (follows) feeding of the Brāhmaṇas.