History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c23.290

v2.c23.290

Some sūtra works add a detail immediately after Nāmakaraṇa. For example, Āśv. gṛ. (I. 15. 11) says 'when a father returns from a journey he holds in his hands his son's head, mutters the verse 'aṅgād aṅgād &c.' and thrice smells (kisses) his son on the head. Āp. gṛ. 15. 12 ⁵⁸⁰ prescribes that on returning from a journey the father should address his son (abhimantraṇa) with the verse 'aṅgād,' should smell the child on the head with the verse 'be thou an axe' and should mutter in his right ear five mantras. These rules have a very ancient origin. The Kauṣītaki Br. Up. II. 11 says that on returning from a journey the father touches the head of a son with the verse 'aṅgād-aṅgād &c.' and takes the name of the boy and also repeats the verse 'aśmā bhava' &c. In the case of the girl there is no smelling of the head nor muttering in the ear, but only address (with a prose formula). This no doubt indicates that greater value was attached to a son than to a daughter, but it also shows that the daughter was not altogether neglected.