Agniveshyagrihyasutra 2.3.5

Now we shall explain the protective cord rite.

Having formed the intention: "I shall perform the tying of the protective cord for the boy named Paramasvāmiśarman," having taken husked rice, a water jar, a boar's tusk, a porcupine quill, a conch, a mirror, collyrium, and the protective thread, having set them down together in one place, having decorated the house at night with canopies and the like, having smeared [the ground] with cow dung, having made a sacrificial ground with unhusked rice, having placed the jar to the north of the sacrificial ground, having placed the ritual materials to the south of the jar, and having seated four Brahmins whose hands and feet have been thoroughly washed in each direction, he, seated upon darbha grass, begins the ritual.

Having seated the boy undergoing the rite to his right, and having sprinkled his own heart with the three verses beginning with "Waters indeed are you, refreshing...", he murmurs these sections along with the Brahmins: "Formulate your power like a wide snare...", "We call upon Indra from all sides...", "Quick, sharpening..."—

up to the end of: "May my luster, O Agni, be [foremost] in invocations...", "I think of Agni, the first, the mindful...", "Indra, with the bones of Dadhīca...", "We cast down the rival who is a missile of the eye, a missile of the mind."

Having murmured these sections, the maternal uncle sits down near the boy, takes the three items beginning with the quill and ending with the conch, brings them down along the boy's right arm, and turns them around three times clockwise.

Then, having taken the collyrium, he anoints [his eyes] with the right hand.

Having taken the mirror, he shows him his face.

Having taken the thread, [with the verses]: "I sprinkle clarified butter upon the horse-like slayer of demons; I approach the dearest friend for shelter;

Agni, sharpened, kindled by sacrifices—may he protect us by day, may he protect us from harm by night. / All these [deeds] of yours are to be proclaimed in the pressings, which you, O bounteous Indra, have performed for the presser;

When you uncovered the wealth of Parāvata, collected by Pūru, for the sage-kinsman Śarabha," having tied the thread, he performs the protection with: "The great sāman, the supporter of dominion, of mature virility, the triṣṭubh vigor, adorned, fiercely valiant,

O Indra, with the fifteen-fold stoma, protect this middle [region] with the wind together with the ocean."

Then, having taken the husked rice, he performs the protection with verses and formulas such as: "May the Vasus with the Rudras protect you from the east...", "She whose neck is smeared with clarified butter, the plump wife of this one...", "He prays for this blessing at the full cup...", "New and newer he becomes as he is born...", "We sacrifice to Tryambaka...", "O Viṣṇu, you are nearest to us...", and "Now I proclaim the heroic deeds of Viṣṇu..."

Likewise, a woman, turning around along the left arm, turns [the items] around clockwise.

"Wherever there is a joyful śrāddha, there is the protective cord rite," says the venerable Āgniveśya. || 5