{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/sbe30/sbe30121.htm","path":"hin/sbe30/sbe30121.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/sbe30/sbe30121.htm","text":"The Grihya Sutras, Part 2 (SBE30), by Hermann Oldenberg, [1892]\nIt is the same with numbers.\nCommentary.\nIf 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.\nBut accumulation is meant in the buying (of Soma), in the redemption, and in initiation.\nWhen 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 D\u00eeksh\u00e2, 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.\nThe Soma-plant, which is supposed to be bought from northern barbarians, is botanically described in an \u00c2yur-vedic extract, quoted in the Dh\u00fbrtasv\u00e2mi-bh\u00e2shyat\u00eek\u00e2 (MS. E.I.H. 531, p. 3b), as\nsy\u00e2m\u00e2l\u00e2ml\u00e2 ka nishpatr\u00e2 ksh\u00eerin\u00ee tvaki m\u00e2msal\u00e2, sleshmal\u00e2 vaman\u00ee vall\u00ee som\u00e2khy\u00e2 kh\u00e2gabhoganam. 'The creeper called Soma is dark, sour, without leaves, milky, fleshy on the surface, producing phlegm and vomiting, food for goats.'\nThis passage, quoted from some \u00c2yur-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.\nIf one has performed an offering to Rudra, to the R\u00e2kshasas, to Nirriti, or to the Pitris, if one has cut or broken or thrown away anything, or rubbed oneself, &c., one should touch water.\nThe touching of water is for the sake of purification. Nirasana is left out in some MSS. The ka, inserted after abhimarsan\u00e2ni, is explained, as usual, as including other acts also, corresponding to our etc.\nAll priestly performances take place on the northern side of the Vih\u00e2ra.\nUttarata-upak\u00e2rah has to be taken as a compound. Vih\u00e2ra is explained as vihriyante\u093dgnayah p\u00e2tr\u00e2ni ka yasmin dese, i.e. the sacrificial ground. Upak\u00e2ra is explained as adhvaryv\u00e2d\u00een\u00e2m samkarah, and this samkara, according to K\u00e2ty\u00e2yana I, 3, 42, is the path between the K\u00e2tv\u00e2la and Utkara, the Utkara being on the west, the pran\u00eet\u00e2s on the east of the Vih\u00e2ra. K\u00e2ty\u00e2yana I, 8, 26, expresses the same rule by uttarata-upak\u00e2ro yag\u00f1ah, the vih\u00e2ra being the place where the yag\u00f1a takes place.\nThe priest should never turn away from the fire, i.e. should never turn his back on the altar.\nNor from the Vih\u00e2ra.\nSacrificial utensils should be turned inside, the performers being outside.\nThe 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.\nAfter a sacrificial object has been hallowed by a Mantra, the priest should not toss it about.\nSacrificial 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 (yag\u00f1opav\u00eetin), and turning towards the right.\nSacrificial 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\nunder the left arm (pr\u00e2k\u00een\u00e2v\u00eetin), and turning towards the left.\nRopes which have to be joined, should be joined by the priest from left to right, after having tied them from right to left.\nRopes which are not joined (single ropes), should be tied by the priest from left to right.\nThe exact process here intended is not quite clear. The ropes seem to have been made of vegetable fibres. See Katy. I, 3,15-17.\nLet a man sacrifice with the Am\u00e2v\u00e2sy\u00e2 sacrifice at the time of the Am\u00e2v\u00e2sy\u00e2, new moon.\nAm\u00e2-v\u00e2sy\u00e2 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 Rig-veda. In our S\u00fbtra am\u00e2v\u00e2sy\u00e2 is used in the sense both of new moon and new-moon sacrifice.\nAnd let a man sacrifice with the Paurnam\u00e2sy\u00e2 sacrifice at the time of the Paurnam\u00e2s\u00ee, full moon, thus it is said.\nHere the full moon is called paurnam\u00e2s\u00ee, the sacrifice paurnam\u00e2sy\u00e2. Satyavrata joins the two S\u00fbtras in one, and leaves out yageteti, which may have belonged to the commentary.\nLet a man observe that full-moon day as a day of abstinence on which the moon comes out full before.\nThe full moon (paurnam\u00e2s\u00ee) 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 paurnam\u00e2s\u00ee belongs to the last day of the one and to the first day (pratipad) of the other phase, and both days might be called paurnam\u00e2s\u00ee. 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.\nThe meaning of purast\u00e2d, which I have translated by before, is doubtful. One commentator says it has no object, and should be dropped, purast\u00e2d ity etat padam asmin s\u00fbtra id\u00e2n\u00eem anvayam na labhate prayogan\u00e2bh\u00e2v\u00e2t. Purast\u00e2d, before, may, however, mean before the second day, on which the real sacrifice takes place, and the commentator mentions purast\u00e2t-paurnam\u00e2s\u00ee as a name of the katurdas\u00ee-yukt\u00e2, i.e. the full moon beginning on the fourteenth day. The same kind of full moon is also called Anumati, P\u00fbrv\u00e2-paurnam\u00e2s\u00ee, and Sandhy\u00e2-paurnam\u00e2s\u00ee, while that which takes place on the pratipad, the first day of the lunar phase, is called R\u00e2k\u00e2, Uttar\u00e2-paurnam\u00e2s\u00ee, Astamitodit\u00e2, and Svahp\u00fbrit\u00e2.\nCorresponding to these two kinds of Paurnam\u00e2s\u00ee there are also two kinds of Am\u00e2v\u00e2sy\u00e2. That which falls on the fourteenth day is called P\u00fbrv\u00e2-am\u00e2v\u00e2sy\u00e2, or Sin\u00eev\u00e2l\u00ee, the \u1f15\u03bd\u03b7 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03bd\u03ad\u03b1; that which falls on the pratipad, the first day of the new phase, is called Kuh\u00fb, Uttar\u00e2-am\u00e2v\u00e2sy\u00e2. Svoyukt\u00e2. See also Ait.-Br\u00e2hm. II, 4; Nir. XI, 31-32.\nOr the day when one says, To-morrow it will be full.\nIn 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, p\u00fbrv\u00e2hne, of the next day. Abstinence, upav\u00e2sa, 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 K\u00e2ty.-Srauta-s\u00fbtras II, I, 8-12.\nThe V\u00e2gasaneyins mention a third, the Kharvik\u00e2 full moon.\nKharva 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 kharvik\u00e2, also ksh\u00een\u00e2. Or, if on the sixteenth day, the full moon takes place before noon, that also is called kharvik\u00e2 paurnam\u00e2s\u00ee. In that case abstinence or fasting takes place on the sixteenth day (tasy\u00e2m shodase\u093dhany upav\u00e2sah). Both paurnam\u00e2s\u00ees are also called sadyask\u00e2l\u00e2.\nLet a man observe that new-moon day (am\u00e2v\u00e2sy\u00e2) as a day of abstinence, on which the moon is not seen.\nThis S\u00fbtra has to be connected with S\u00fbtra 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 Kuh\u00fb. We should read am\u00e2v\u00e2sy\u00e2m.\nOr the day when one says, To-morrow they will not see it.\nIn 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 Sin\u00eev\u00e2l\u00ee. Satyavrata reads svo yukta iti v\u00e2 instead of svo na drasht\u00e2ra iti v\u00e2. Drasht\u00e2rah should be explained as \u00eekshit\u00e2rah, 'they will not see it.' There is much difference of opinion on this subject among different S\u00e2kh\u00e2s, S\u00fbtrak\u00e2ras, and their commentators; see Taitt. Samh. III, 4, 9; Weber, Ind. Stud., V, p. 228.\nThe principal acts (pradh\u00e2na), prescribed in one (typical) performance, follow the same special rules (vidh\u00e2na).\nThis S\u00fbtra is variously explained: Satyavrata's commentary, which I have followed in the translation, explains pradh\u00e2n\u00e2ni as \u00e2gney\u00e2d\u00eeni, i.e. the chief parts of such a sacrifice as the Darsa-p\u00fbrnam\u00e2sa; vidh\u00e2n\u00e2ni as a\u1e45g\u00e2ni. Kapardisv\u00e2min's commentary also explains vidh\u00e2n\u00e2ni as the a\u1e45g\u00e2ni of a pradh\u00e2nam; pradh\u00e2nam as p\u00fbrnam\u00e2sa, &c. It would therefore mean that such ceremonies as the \u00e2gneya (ashta-kap\u00e2la), \u00e2gn\u00eeshom\u00eeya (ek\u00e2dasa-kap\u00e2la), and up\u00e2msu, which form the pradh\u00e2nas of the Darsap\u00fbrnam\u00e2sa, retain throughout the same vidh\u00e2nas or a\u1e45gas as prescribed in one Prakarana, viz. the Darsap\u00fbrnam\u00e2sa. The A\u1e45gas or members are all the things used for sacrificial purposes, milk, butter, grains, animals, &c.\nThe special rules are limited by (the purpose of) the (typical) performance (prakarana).\nHere the rules (vidhis) are again the A\u1e45gas, which belong to a sacrifice, as the members belong to the body.\nIf no special instruction is given (in the Sruti), the acts are general.\nIf a special instruction is given, they are restricted.\nNirdesa is explained as visesha-sruti, and the meaning is supposed to be that unless such a special rule is given, the A\u1e45gas of all the Pradh\u00e2na acts remain the same, as, for instance, the Paryagnikarana, the Pray\u00e2gas, &c. Special instructions are when it is said: payas\u00e2 maitravarunam sr\u00een\u00e2ti, sruvena purod\u00e2sam anakti, he cooks the Maitravaruna with milk, he anoints the Purod\u00e2sa with the spoon, &c.\nThe Asht\u00e2-kap\u00e2la for Agni, the Ek\u00e2dasa-kap\u00e2la for Agn\u00ee-Shomau, and the Up\u00e2msuy\u00e2ga (the muttered offering of butter), form the principal acts at the Paurnam\u00e2s\u00ee, the full moon.\nThe Asht\u00e2-kap\u00e2la is the cake baked in eight cups, the Ek\u00e2dasa-kap\u00e2la 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.\nThe other Homas are A\u1e45ga.\nThe other acts, such as the pray\u00e2gas and anuy\u00e2gas, are auxiliary, and have no promise of reward by themselves.","title":"Grihya Sutras, Part 2 (SBE30): \u00c2pastamba's Yag\u00f1a-Paribh\u00e2sh\u00e2-S\u00fbtras: S\u00fbtras 51-75","type":"page"}