History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c48.109

v3.c48.109

The adhvaryu and the yajamāna both close their eyes, holding their breath, (open their eyes and) look down upon the clarified butter with 'thou art ājya, thou art truth ...... may I partake of thee' (a long mantra from Tai. S. I. 6. 1. 1-2). The adhvaryu purifies (performs *utpavana* of) the ājya thrice with two pavitras²³⁴⁶ the points of which are held towards the north by continuously carrying them backwards and forwards with 'thou art bright, thou art the flame, thou art light' (Tai. S. I. 1. 10. 3). He performs *utpavana* of the prokṣaṇī water with 'devo vaḥ savitotpunātu &c.' (Tai. S. I. 1. 10. 3). The adhvaryu fills with the sruva ladle that has no trace of anything sticking to it and that is held in the right hand clarified butter inside the vedi, while holding the sruc together with the veda bunch in the left hand. The juhū ladle is so held that its bowl is alongside of the hollow of the ājyasthālī, that of the upabhṛt is near the middle of the ājyasthālī and the dhruvā is on the ground. In the juhū and dhruvā four ladlings are made with sruva while in the upabhṛt eight are made²³⁴⁷, but the upabhṛt contains the smallest portion of ājya, the juhū contains a good deal and the dhruvā contains the largest quantity. When the juhū is being filled the mantras are four ‘śukram tvā...gṛhṇāmi pañcānām tvā...dhartrāya gṛhṇāmi’ (Tai. S. I. 1. 10. 3 and I. 6. 1. 2–3); in the case of the upabhṛt the mantras are eight ‘pañcānām tvartūnām...suvīryāya tvā...gṛhṇāmi’; in the case of the dhruvā the mantras are ‘suprajāstvāya tvā gṛhṇāmi...... devatābhyo gṛhṇāmi’ (Tai. S. I. 6. 1. 3). The yajamāna also invokes with the same mantras when the ladling is going on. The adhvaryu removes the ājyasthālī together with the veda and sruva from the vedi, keeps the ājya in some place other than the utkara, invokes the prokṣaṇī waters with ‘the divine waters (āpo devīr &c., Tai. S. I. 1. 5. 1) and seeks the permission of the brahmā priest with ‘brahman, shall I sprinkle.’ When the brahmā says ‘yes’ he sprinkles thrice the idhma (fire-wood brought, vide p.1014 above), the veda bunch and the vedi, each with a separate mantra (from Tai. S. I. 1. 11. 1). He places the whole bundle of *barhis* with the knot to the east inside the vedi with a (*sautra*) mantra ‘we had recourse to barhis &c.’ and sprinkles the tips, the middle portions and the roots of the barhis respectively with ‘to thee for heaven’, ‘to thee for the aerial region’, ‘to thee for the earth.’ While the sprinkling proceeds the yajamāna repeats a verse ‘may the waters and herbs be well disposed to the yajamāna &c.’ (Āp. IV. 6. 1). He dips the tips of the barhis in the water contained in the agnihotra-havaṇī and then the roots also. He sprinkles over the knot of the barhis from east to west water from the sruc over which he places his hand (so that water oozes over it from his finger tips) with ‘to you for nourishment’ (Tai. S. VII. 1. 11). He pours down the remaining prokṣaṇī water from the southern corner (śroṇi) of the west side of the vedi to its north corner with ‘svadhā to the pitṛs, mayst thou be strength for the barhiṣad pitṛs, may you (the particles of water) go to the earth with strength’ and the yajamāna says ‘this is for the Barhiṣad pitṛs.’