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The Grihya Sutras, Part 1 (SBE29), by Hermann Oldenberg, [1886], at sacred-texts.com


KHANDA 8.

1. Now (follows) the strewing (of grass) around (the fire).

2. He strews eastward-pointed Kusa grass around it, in three layers or in five layers,

3. Beginning on the east side, then to the west, then to the west.

4. He covers the roots (of the grass-blades) with the points.

5. And all kinds of rites are to be performed beginning south, ending north.

6. He places the Brahman south with the words, BHÛR BHUVAH SVAH,

7. Adorns him with flowers,

8. Carries forward on the north side the Pranîtâ waters with the words, 'Who carries ye forward?'—

9. Takes up with the left hand the Kusa blades, and arranges them (on the ground) with the right hand,

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10. Bending his right knee,

11. The left when worshipping the Manes.

12. The strewing around (of the grass) is not necessary in the Âgya offerings,

13 13. Nor in the standing offerings, according to Mândûkeya.

14 14-16. He now measures off with the span (of his hand) two Kusa blades, which are not unequal, with unbroken points, bearing no young shoots in them, and severs them (from their roots) with a Kusa blade, saying, 'Purifiers are ye.'

15. There are two or three (of these Kusa strainers).

16. He holds them with their points to the east and sprinkles them (with water, saying), 'Belonging to Vishnu.'

17. With the two Kusa blades he sprinkles (water) around the fire three times, keeping his right side turned towards it,

18 18. Takes up the Âgya pot with the words, 'Milk of the cows art thou;'

19 19. Puts it on the fire with the words, 'For sap thee;'

20 20. Takes it from the fire towards the north with the words, 'For juice thee;'

21 21. And holding the two (Kusa) strainers with their points to the north, seizing them on both sides

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with his two thumbs and fourth fingers, he bends them down, the points upwards, and dips them into the Âgya with the words,

'By the impulse of Savitar I purify thee with this uninjured purifier, with the rays of the good sun.'

22. (This) preparation of the Âgya (takes place) each time.

23. Let him not offer (Âgya) which has not been (thus) prepared.

24 24-25. Also the waters in the Sruva spoon (he purifies) with the words, '(By the impulse) of Savitar (I purify) you.'

25. This (is called) the PRANÎTÂ and the PROKSHANÎ water.


Footnotes

24:1 8, 1. Comp. the passages quoted in Professor Eggeling's note on Satapatha Br. I, 1, 1, 22.

24:6 Ordinarily there was no real Brahman present, and his place was filled by a bundle of Kusa grass that represented him. Nârâyana states that this bundle should consist of fifty blades of Kusa grass. Comp. also the Grihya-samgraha-parisishta I, 89-90.

24:8 Comp. the passages quoted by Dr. Bloomfield, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländ. Gesellschaft, vol. xxxv, p. 565, note 2.

24:9 This Sûtra shows that the paristarana, though already treated of in Sûtras 1-4, is not to be performed till after the 'carrying forward' of the Pranîtâ water. Comp. Nârâyana's note on Sûtra 1 (p. 123 of the German edition). That this is indeed the order of the different acts is confirmed by Pâraskara I, 1, 2.

25:13 'In the standing offerings, such as the Vaisvadeva sacrifice in the morning and in the evening.' Nârâyana.

25:14-16gasaneyi Samhitâ I, 12 a.

25:18g. Samh. IV, 3 a.

25:19g. Samh. I, 22 d.

25:20g. Samh. I, 30 c.

25:21g. Samh. I, 12 b.—The division of Sûtras 21 and 22 should be after iti, not, as the Indian tradition has it, after rasmibhih.

26:24-25 24, 25. Râmakandra: 'He pours water into the Sruva and purifies this also, as he had done with the Âgya (Sûtra 21) . . . . He then pours a little portion of that water on to the Pranîtâ water (see above, Sûtra 8), and with the rest, which is called the Prokshanî water, he sprinkles the sacrificial food, the fuel, and the Barhis.'


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