History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c34.162

v2.c34.162

After saṁdhyā comes homa (Dakṣa II. 28 and Yāj. I. 98-99). If a brāhmaṇa took a bath in the early morning and engaged in a lengthy saṁdhyā prayer he may not be able to perform homa in the morning at the proper time. Homa was performed in the morning before sunrise according to one view (*anudite juhoti*) and after sunrise, according to another (*udite juhoti*); but even on the latter view, homa must be performed before the sun rises one cubit above the horizon (Gobhila-smṛti I. 123 ).¹⁶⁰⁹ The evening homa is to be performed at a time when the stars clearly appear in the sky and the ruddy colour has left the western horizon (Gobhila-smṛti I. 124). Āśv. Śr. II. 2 and Āśv. gṛ. I. 9. 5 state the time for morning homa to be up to the end of the period of *saṅgava* (i. e. the second of the five periods of day time). Therefore some said that in order to perform homa in time one may perform the morning *saṁdhyā* prayer even after homa.¹⁶¹⁰ It has been shown above (p. 425) that the belief was that a man owed three debts one of which, viz. that to the gods, was discharged by performance of sacrifices and that a man had to perform agnihotra (fire worship) to the end of his life. The fire to be tended was either śrauta or smārta. As to the first there were certain rules. Only a person that had attained a certain age was to kindle the śrauta fires, viz. one who had a son or had reached an age when he could have a son and whose hair was still black (i. e. who had not become middle-aged or old). There were two views on the necessity of kindling the śrauta fires. Vas. Dh. S. XI. 45–48 ¹⁶¹¹ says “a brāhmaṇa must necessarily kindle the three śrauta fires and offer (in them) the Darśa-Pūrṇamāsa (new moon and full moon sacrifices), the Āgrayaṇa iṣṭi, the Cāturmāsyas, the animal and soma sacrifices. For this is enjoined as an observance and has been lauded as a debt. For it is declared (in the Veda) ‘a brāhmaṇa is born indebted in three debts, in sacrifice to the gods &c." Śabara on Jaimini V. 4. 16 expressly says that there is no particular time fixed for kindling the sacred fires and that a person may do so the very day on which the pious desire to do so arises in his mind¹⁶¹². The Trikāṇḍamaṇḍana I. 6-7 refers to the two views that *ādhāna* (kindling of śrauta fires) is *nitya* (obligatory) and the other view (discussed by Baudhāyana) that it is merely *kāmya* (to be performed only if one desires the fulfilment of certain objects). The person who had kindled the sacred fires offered his daily oblations in them. It is clear that even in'very ancient times not many kindled the sacred Vedic fires. The Gṛhya and Dharma sūtras often contain rules referring to those who had kindled the sacred fires and to those who had not. For example, the Āśv. gṛ. I. 1. 4 quotes Ṛg. VIII. 19. 5 'the person who lays a fuel stick on fire, or throws an oblation on it or offers it the study of the Veda, or who pays adoration to Agni, (in substance) offers a good sacrifice.' Āśv. gṛ. then quotes a brāhmaṇa passage explaining¹⁶¹³ Ṛg. VIII. 19. 5 in which reliance is also placed on two more Ṛk verses (viz. Ṛg. VIII. 24. 20 and VI. 16. 47). The purpose of all this is to show that even the study of the Veda, the performing of *namaskāra* and offering of a *samidh* in the fire are equivalent to a real sacrifice. That shows that it was not obligatory on every-body to kindle the three sacred fires. But it must be said that agnihotra was highly thought of in ancient India. Vide Chāndogya Up. V. 24. 5 for a verse extolling it.