{"collection":"Hinduism","full_text_available":false,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/sacred_texts_v1_hin_sbe30_sbe30053_htm/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/sacred_texts_v1_hin_sbe30_sbe30053_htm","id":"sacred_texts_v1_hin_sbe30_sbe30053_htm","license":"unknown_pending_legal_review","rights_basis":"sacred_texts_v1_preview_gate_primary_text_only; acquisition-method/ToS and compilation-copyright questions still open, not resolved by this gate","source":"sacred_texts_v1","source_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/sbe30/sbe30053.htm","summary":"This is a scholarly translation of a portion of the *Grihya Sutras*, ancient Sanskrit texts codifying Hindu domestic ritual, rendered into English by Indologist Hermann Oldenberg for the *Sacred Books of the East* series (1892). The passage describes the *Sn\u0101taka* ceremony \u2014 the ritual bathing and investiture marking a Vedic student's graduation from study under a teacher. It prescribes, in granular procedural detail, a sequence of ritual acts: washing the student with sanctified water while reciting specific Vedic verses, anointing with sandalwood paste, donning new unwashed garments (each accompanied by a dedicatory formula), and ceremonially handling gold ear-rings over fire with oblations of ghee. A distinctive feature is the extended cluster of mantras tied to gold, which frame it not merely as adornment but as a spiritually potent substance conferring longevity, social esteem across all four castes, and sacred radiance. The text also preserves a telling scholastic debate about whether the student should be shielded from sunlight during the ceremony, with the rationale that the sun itself borrows its brilliance from graduates who have completed their vows. Oldenberg's footnotes cross-reference parallel passages in other Vedic corpora, making this useful for comparative study of Vedic ritual but challenging as casual reading without background in the tradition.","tags":[],"text":null,"title":"Grihya Sutras, Part 2 (SBE30): Grihya S\u00fbtra of Hiranyakesin: I, 3, 10","tradition":"Hinduism","translated_text":null,"word_count":679}