History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c23.164
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c23.164
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We have here first the religious part of homa and oblations with mantras. But this rite is mainly of a social and festival nature intended to keep the pregnant woman in good cheer. The Saṁskāraprakāśa (pp. 172-173) quotes some verses from an Āśvalāyana stating that this rite serves the purpose of driving certain female goblins that thirst for the destruction of the foetus; the parting of the hair by the husband with the quill, bunch of unripe fruits and *darbhas* and tying a garland round her neck, giving her boiled rice mixed with mudga and ghee and asking lute players to sing indicate its festive character. There is a great divergence among the gṛhya sūtras about the several details of this saṁskāra and the order in which they take place. The Sm. C. after pointing out a few divergences remarks that one should follow the rules of one's own gṛhya sūtra. A few important divergences are pointed out below. This saṁskāra was to be performed in the 3rd month according to Kāṭhaka gṛ., in 3rd, 6th or 8th according to the Mānava; in the 4th month according to Āśv., Āp., Hir. (II. 1), in 4th or 6th according to Gobhila (II. 7. 2) and in the 4th, 6th or 8th according to Khādira, in 6th or 8th according to Pāraskara, Yāj. (I. 11), Viṣṇu Dh. S. (27. 3), Śaṅkha; in the 7th according to Śāṅ. gṛ. (I. 22. 1), in the 8th according to Vaik. and Veda-Vyāsa (I. 18). Śaṅkha as quoted in the Smṛticandrikā (I. p.
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17) says that it should be performed on the foetus beginning to move and up to the time of delivery. Āśv., Śāṅ. and Hir. require that the moon must be in conjunction with a male nakṣatra. Hir. gṛ. alone prescribes that the saṁskāra should take place in a round apartment. It is remarkable that Āśv. alone requires that the woman should be seated on a bull's hide, which shows that till his day such a hide was not treated (as is done in modern times) as a very unholy thing. Pāraskara makes her sit on a soft chair or seat, while Gobhila prescribes a seat of northward pointed *darbhas*. There is great divergence as to the number of oblations and the verses to be repeated even in sūtras of the same Veda, e. g. Āśvalāyana prescribes eight oblations and eight mantras, but Śāṅkhāyana prescribes only six (by omitting the verses Ṛg. II. 32. 4-5). Gobhila, Khādira, Bhāradvāja, Pāraskara and Śāṅkhāyana prescribe the preparation of boiled rice with ghee thereon or sesame and the first three of these say that the woman should be asked to look at the ghee on the mass of rice and be questioned 'what do you see' and she should be made to reply 'I see progeny' (Bhāradvāja has the reply 'sons and cattle'). Almost all gṛhya sūtras agree that in parting the hair the husband is to use a bunch of unripe fruit (Gobhila, Pār. and Śāṅ. specifying that it was to be Udumbara fruit), a porcupine quill with three white spots and three bunches of kuśa grass.
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Pāraskara and Gobhila add the use of a Vīratara stick and a full spindle. Some like Āśv. prescribe that the parting must be done thrice, Gobhila seems to prescribe it six times, while Khādira (II. 2. 25) expressly says that it is to be done only once. Śāṅ. says that the unripe fruits are to be tied to a string of three twisted threads and the string is to be suspended from her neck as a garland. Pār. also seems to suggest the same. Āp. also says that the husband should (by way of ornament) tie a string of barley grains with young shoots on the woman's head (14. 7) and Vaikhānasa says that the woman is to wear a garland and have fragrant unguents applied to her body. Many of the gṛhya sūtras direct that lute players should sing a verse or verses. Gobhila, Khādira, Vaik. are silent on this point, but Gobhila prescribes that brāhmaṇa women should address auspicious words to her 'Be you the mother of a valiant son.' There is divergence as to whose praise is to be sung. Śāṅ and Pār. say that the ballad sung must be in praise of the (ruling) king or any one else who is very valiant. Āśv., Hir., Baud., Bhāradvāja and Pār. prescribe a gāthā in honour of king Soma (the plant). Āpastamba refers to two verses, one of which praises king Yaugandhari and the other king Soma and prescribes that the first is to be sung for all varṇas residing in the Sālva countries, while the second is to be recited by brāhmaṇas.
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Some of the sūtras like Āśv., Pār., Bhāradvāja allow that in the ballad to be sung by the lute players the river on which the woman and her husband dwell is to be invoked.⁵¹⁹