History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c26.244.2

v2.c26.244.2

7 (which refers to the recitation of the Sāmidhenī verses) we read “he says ‘choose (or invoke) ye the fire called *havyavāhana*’; he chooses him (the fire) of the gods; he chooses the ārṣeya; in so doing he does not depart from the relationship (by blood) and doing so serves for continuity. He chooses the later ones beginning from the remoter ones”. In this passage ‘ārṣeyam’ appears to be used in the sense of ‘one or more illustrious ancestors of the sacrificer’ and reference is made to one of the two modes of mentioning the sages constituting the pravara. ‘Ārṣeya’ may also be taken here as an adjective (qualifying Agni), the meaning being ‘he invokes Agni by the names of the illustrious ancestor sages of the yajamāna’. In one mode the remotest ancestor is named first in a taddhita (derivative) formation, then his descendant and so on, the sage nearest the sacrificer being mentioned last. For example, the pravara of Bhṛgu Vatsa is ‘Bhārgava-cyavana-apnavānaurva-jāmadagnyeti’. This method is employed by the Hotṛ priest when he invokes fire as the divine Hotṛ with the pravara-mantra ‘Agne mahān-asi brāhmaṇa bhārata deveddha manviddha ṛṣistuta &c.' (vide Tai. S. II. 5. 9. and Śat. Bṛ. I. 4. 2, Aśv. Śr. I. 2. 27-I. 3. 6). In the other mode the affix 'vat' is used after the name of each pravara sage and the remotest one is mentioned last (e. g. Jamadagnivat, Ūrvavat, Apnavānavat, Cyavanavat, Bhṛguvat).