History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c24.s1.557

v2.c24.s1.557

For example, Śāṅ. gṛ. (III. 1. 2) makes the student sit on bull's hide. Pār. gṛ. (II. 6) prescribes that eight jars full of water are to be placed on kuśa grass and water therefrom is to be poured over the head and the body of the student with certain mantras, that he is to worship the rising sun, to partake of curds or sesame seeds, to cleanse his teeth with an udumbara twig, he sees himself in a mirror (after adorning himself). Both Pār. and Gobhila (III. 4. 23) say that in this rite the girdle is taken off. Gobhila (III. 4. 31–34) says that at the end of the rite the student should mount a chariot drawn by oxen, drive some distance in an eastern or northern direction, should then come back to the teacher who honours him with madhuparka. Hīr. gṛ. (I. 9. 10) says that the girdle, the staff and the black antelope skin that he wore as brahmacārin are to be thrown into water. The Laghu-Āśvalāyana-smṛti (14th section) appears to suggest that godāna and samāvartana take place on the same day and that at the end of the homa in samāvartana a student of the Ṛgveda should unloosen the girdle of muñja grass with the mantra ‘ud uttamam mumugdhi’ (Ṛg. I. 25. 21). It is for this reason that in the Maratha country samāvartana is called ‘soḍmuñja’ (rite in which the muñja girdle is taken away).