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The Grihya Sutras, Part 2 (SBE30), by Hermann Oldenberg, [1892], at sacred-texts.com


p. 12 p. 13

GRIHYA-SÛTRA OF GOBHILA.

PRAPÂTHAKA I, KÂNDIKÂ 1.

1. 1 Now henceforth we shall explain the domestic sacrifices.

2. He should perform (the ceremonies) wearing the sacrificial cord on his left shoulder and having sipped water.

3. During the northern course of the sun, at the time of the increasing moon, on an auspicious day, before noon: this he should know as the (proper) time (for performing the ceremonies).

4. And as the prescription (is stated with regard to the time of the single ceremonies).

5. 5 All (ceremonies) are accompanied by the Anvâhârya (Srâddha).

p. 14

6. 6 At the end (of each ceremony) he should feed worthy (Brâhmanas) according to his ability.

7. 7 A student, after he has studied the Veda, when going to put the last piece of wood (on the fire),—

8. Or to seize a wife's hand (i.e. to marry her),—

9. 9 Should fetch water from a hidden place, should sweep a place which is inclined towards north-east, or which is level, and should besmear it (with cow-dung). Beginning from the centre of it he should draw a line from west to east, (another line) from south to north which touches that line at its western end, and three lines from west to east (touching the northwards-turned line at three different points) in its midst (i.e. at neither of its ends). He then should besprinkle (those lines with water).

10. In this way the Lakshana (i.e. the preparation of the place for the sacred fire) is performed everywhere.

11. With the words 'Bhûr, bhuvah, svah,' they carry the fire forward (to that place) so that they have it in front of them.

12. 12 Or after the householder has died, the chief

p. 15

[paragraph continues] (of the family) should do it (i.e. he should set up the sacred fire).

13. In this way, on the coincidence of an (auspicious) Tithi and an (auspicious) Nakshatra, (or of such a Nakshatra) and a Parvan—

14. On the full-moon day or on the new-moon day: then he should celebrate the setting up of his (sacred domestic) fire.

15. 15 He should get fire from a Vaisya's house or from a frying-pan, and should set it up (as his sacred fire);

16. Or (he should fetch it) from the house of one who offers many sacrifices, be it a Brâhmana, or a Râganya, or a Vaisya.

17. Or he may kindle another fire by attrition and may set it up.

18. That is pure, but it does not bring prosperity.

19. He may do what he likes (of the things stated as admissible in the last Sûtras.

20. 20 When he puts (at the end of his studentship) the last piece of wood (on the fire), or when he sacrifices when going to seize the hand of a wife, that fire he should keep.

21. That becomes his (sacred) domestic fire.

22. 22 Thereby his morning oblation has been offered.

p. 16

23. 23 Beginning from that time the sacrificing (of regular morning and evening oblations) in the domestic fire is prescribed, so that he begins with an evening oblation.

24. Before the time has come for setting the fire in a blaze, he should fetch in the evening and in the morning from a hidden place the water with which the different acts (such as sipping water) are performed.

25. Or (he should fetch water only) in the evening.

26. Or he should draw it out of a water-pot or of a barrel.

27. 27 Before sunset he should set the fire in a blaze, and sacrifice the evening oblation after sunset.

28. In the morning he should set the fire in a blaze before sunrise, and should sacrifice the morning oblation before sunrise or after it.


Footnotes

13:1 1, 1-4. Comp. Khâdira-Grihya I, 1, 1. 2. 5. 7.

13:5 I cannot give this translation of the words 'sarvâny evânvâhâryavanti' without expressing my doubts as to whether the commentator, whom I have followed, is right. He says: 'anu paskâd âhriyate yasmât prakritam karma iti, anu paskâd âhriyate yat prastutât (prakritât?) karmana iti kânvâhâryam nândîmukhasrâddham dakshinâ kokyate.' It is evident that the first explanation of anvâhârya as a ceremony after which the chief sacrifice follows, is inadmissible. Below, IV, 4, 3. 4, Gobhila himself defines the Anvâhârya Srâddha as a monthly ceremony (comp. Manu III, 123; Max Müller, India, p. 240); it is, consequently, different from a Srâddha accompanying each Grihya sacrifice. The Sloka which the commentary quotes from a 'grihyântara' seems to me not to remove the doubt; I think rather that it contains a speculation based on this very passage of Gobhila, taken in the sense in p. 14 which the commentator takes it, and on the Sûtras IV, 4, 3. 4. Thus I rather believe that we ought to understand anvâhârya as a mess of food like that offered after the darsapûrnamâsau sacrifices to the officiating priests (Hillebrandt, Neu- and Vollmondsopfer, 133), and I propose to translate: All (sacrifices) are followed by (the offering of) the Anvâhârya food (to the priest).

14:6 Khâdira-Grihya I, 1, 3.

14:7 The text goes on to treat of the setting up of the domestic fire. Khâdira-Grihya I, 3, 1.

14:9 Khâdira-Grihya I, 3, 1 seqq.; Grihya-samgraha I, 47 seqq.; Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenl. Gesellschaft, XXXV, 557.

14:12 I have followed in the translation of parameshthikaranam the p. 15 way indicated by the Grihya-samgraha I, 77, and by Sâṅkhâyana (I, 1, 5): prete vâ grihapatau svayam gyâyân. I think the parameshthî is the same person as the gyâyan. The commentary gives a different explanation: parameshthî agnir ity âkakshate, tasya parameshthinogneh karanam yathoktena vidhinâ svîkaranam.

15:15 15-18. Khâdira-Grihya I, 5, 3 seqq.

15:20 20, 21. Khâdira-Grihya I, 5, I. 2. Comp. also above, Sûtras 7 and 8.

15:22 I.e. in the first of the two cases mentioned in Sûtra 20, the p. 16 putting of fuel on the fire, and in the second case, the oblations of fried grain, &c., prescribed for the wedding, are considered as the sacrificer's morning oblation in his newly-established Grihya fire, so that the regular oblations have to begin with the sâyamâhuti.

16:23 Khâdira-Grihya I, 5, 6. Comp. Prof. Bloomfield's note 2, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenl. Gesellschaft, XXXV, 561.

16:27 27, 28. Khâdira-Grihya I, 5,7-9. As to the two cases regarding the time of the morning oblation, comp. Indische Studien, X, 329.


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