History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c46.101.1

v3.c46.101.1

Among medieval works the Smṛtyarthasāra (pp. 96-97), the Sm. M. (pp. 177-182), the Yati-dh. (pp. 10-22), the Nirṇaya-sindhu (III. Uttarārdha pp. 628-632), the Dharmasindhu give various detailed procedures. Many of the medieval works and manuals (paddhatis) on sannyāsa frequently refer to a work called Brahmānandī, which I have not been able to secure. The procedure in the Dharmasindhu contains the following elements. Sannyāsa is to be resorted to in the northward passage of the sun and for a man who is about to die even in the southward passage. He should find out a teacher possessed of the virtues of quiescence and note for three months the duties of ascetics in his company, should purify himself with *japa* of the sacred Gāyatrī, Rudra mantras and by Kuṣmāṇḍa *homa* (for which see Tai. Ār. II. 7). He should then make a saṅkalpa²¹⁹⁰ after reciting the place and time on a *riktā tithi* and should perform the prāyaścitta of *catuḥkṛcchra* by giving a cow or money for each as stated above (pp. 199-200). Then he should begin to perform on the 11th or 12th day 16 śrāddhas of himself and sapiṇḍīkaraṇa. Then he is to perform eight śrāddhas (vide above p. 932) and *tarpaṇa* as a subordinate part (*aṅga*) of these eight śrāddhas.