History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c48.155

v3.c48.155

Then follows the principal sacrifice. The adhvaryu issues a direction to the hotṛ 'recite an anuvākyā for Agni'. Hotṛ recites (as anuvākyā) Ṛg. VIII. 44. 16 followed by 'om' (as agnirmūrdhā...jinvato3m ). Then there is āśrāvaṇa and pratyāśrāvaṇa. Then the adhvaryu issues his direction to the hotṛ to recite the yājyā which is Ṛg. X. 8. 6 ( ye3 yajāmahesgnim bhuvo......havyavāho3m vau3ṣaṭ ). Then the adhvaryu throws the oblation ( āhuti ) of puroḍāśa portions on to the fire. The method of this is ²³⁷⁶ that he drops a part of the ājya from the sruc first ( that was sprinkled in it at upastaraṇa and abhighāraṇa ), then the two puroḍāśa portions are thrown and lastly he allows the remaining ājya from the bill-like mouth of the sruc to flow over the puroḍāśa offerings as if covering them but without disturbing them. The principal āhutis are introduced at the point of the confluence of the two āghāras and each one is offered in the āhavanīya to the east ( or north-east ) of the preceding one but in contact with the latter. The yajamāna makes the tyāga ‘this is for Agni’ with ‘may I have food to eat on account of this worship of Agni.’ After this offering of puroḍāśa to Agni, there is an upāṁśuyāja ( a silent sacrifice ) with clarified butter offered to Prajāpati or to Agnīṣomau or Viṣṇu. When offered to Prajāpati the anuvākyā and yājyā are Ṛg. X. 121. 10 and Tai. Br. II. 8. 1 ²³⁷⁷ ( taveme lokā &c.) and when offered to Agnīṣomau they are Ṛg. I. 93. 2 and 6. According to Āp. I. 19. 12 and Jai. X. 8. 51-61 it is offered only on Paurṇamāsī. In this, the reference to the deity is always inaudible, but even here the āśruta, the pratyāśruta, and two directions for reciting anuvākyā and yājyā and the vaṣaṭkāra are uttered loudly. The sacrificer says in this upāṁśuyāja ‘thou art a destroyer ; may I be uninjured and may I subdue evil.’ The offering is made of the ājya in the dhruvā ( Jai. X. 8. 47-48 ) and the devatā is either Prajāpati or Agni or Viṣṇu ( Jai. X. 8. 49-50 ) and the offering is caturavatta ( Jai. X. 8. 33-34). The second puroḍāśa is offered to Agni and Soma on pūrṇamāsa in the same way, the anuvākyā and yājyā being respectively Ṛg. I. 93. 9 and 5 and to Indrāgnī in darśeṣṭi, the anuvākyā and yājyā being Ṛg. VII. 94. 7 and VII. 93. 4. This is the case when the sacrificer does not offer sānnāyya to Indra or Mahendra. When the sacrificer offers sānnāyya to Indra the anuvākyā and yājyā are respectively Ṛg. I. 8. 1 and X. 180. 1 and when it is offered to Mahendra they are respectively Ṛg. VIII. 6. 1 and X. 50. 4.²³⁷⁸ In the case of sānnāyya he takes two portions of the boiled milk and two of curds (or three of curds for pañcāvattins) and there is upastaraṇa in the sruc only once and abhighāraṇa also once.