History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c48.162
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c48.162
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v3.c48.162.1
The adhvaryu comes back to the north of the vedi from the spot where he offered to Sviṣṭakṛt, fills the juhū with water and pours it round the paridhis (or their places) beginning from the middle one and proceeding from left to right with ‘I offer this offering into Vaiśvānara, it is a spring with a hundred or a thousand streams. May he support in this that is being filled, my father, grandfather and great-grandfather’ (Tai. Ā. VI. 6) and then touches water. The sacrificer makes the tyāga with ‘this is for (my) father &c.’ and then touches water. The adhvaryu lays down the two srucs in their proper places. Then he tears the surface (or top) of the puroḍāśa meant for Agni from west to east, inserts his thumb and the anāmikā (ring-finger) and takes out from inside the cake a portion which is as much as a barley grain or the pippala²³⁸¹ berry with ‘let this be cut off, somewhat bigger than a barley grain or than the wound made by an arrow. May we not injure this holy and well-offered *havis* of the sacrifice’ (Tai. Br. III. 7. 5). He takes off a portion from the other puroḍāśa also in the same way but without piercing the top. These portions are called prāśitra. The brahmā priest looks at the prāśitra when it is being taken out with ‘I look at thee with the eye of Mitra’ (Āśv. I. 13. 1).
v3.c48.162.2
The adhvaryu sprinkles clarified butter on the vessel called prāśitraharaṇa (that in which prāśitra is carried), keeps the prāśitra in it and sprinkles ājya over it (does abhighāraṇa), takes it to the east of the āhavanīya by the space between the brahmā and yajamāna on one hand and the āhavanīya on the other and then lays it down to the west of the āhavanīya (to the west of the praṇītā waters, according to Baud. I. 17). The adhvaryu then sprinkles ājya in the iḍāpātra, he cuts off the first portion of iḍā from the southern half of the puroḍāśa meant for Agni with 'from the southern half I cut off (iḍā) seen by Manu, from whose foot ghee oozes, that is moved by Mitra and Varuṇa, that has a face in one direction only (in the south), without mixing it with others' ²³⁸² (Tai. Br. III. 7. 5). From the eastern half of the same puroḍāśa he cuts off a thin but long slice which is the portion of the yajamāna (according to Baud. I. 18 it is three or four aṅgulas long) and which is anointed (or smeared) with ājya and placed near the dhruvā (or to the east of the dhruvā) in some vessel on the barhis. Then he cuts off a part from the portion of the cake that is between its southern and eastern parts. In the same way (i. e. repeating the verse 'seen by Manu' &c.) he cuts off a portion as iḍā from the northern puroḍāśa and other things offered (such as the boiled milk and curds). He then sprinkles ājya over the cut portions and removes them towards the east on the vedi.
v3.c48.162.3
He crosses to the south in front of the hotṛ, sits behind the hotṛ with his face to the east and anoints the front two joints of the fore-finger of the hotṛ with ājya from the sruva, first the front joint and then the one next to it. The hotṛ wipes with the palm of the hand turned towards his chest the uppermost joint of the finger on the upper lip and the next joint on his lower lip with 'I partake of thee that art sacrificed by the lord of speech for food, for prāṇa' and 'I partake of thee that are offered by the lord of the mind for strength, for apāna' respectively (Āśv. I. 7. 1-2; compare Śat. Br. I. 8. 1. 14-15). He touches water. The adhvaryu turns from right to left, comes back to the place whence he went, sits down to the east of the hotṛ with his face turned westwards, offers the iḍā to the hotṛ and the sacrificer recites a long mantra (Tai. S. I. 6. 3. 1-2, ‘Surūpa-varṣa-varṇa ehīmān...devān-apyetu’) and looks at the iḍā when it is being taken to the hotṛ. The hotṛ accepts the iḍā (i. e. the vessel of iḍā) in his joined hands, places the iḍā in his left hand, keeps his right hand near the iḍā to its west with the fingers turned northwards and makes the adhvaryu cut off from the iḍā itself a portion called avāntareḍā into the right hand in the following manner.
v3.c48.162.4
The adhvaryu spreads drops of ājya on the right hand of the hotṛ with the sruva in which are poured the remnants of the ājya in the iḍāpātra, then the adhvaryu takes a portion from the iḍāpātra and drops it on to the right hand and the hotṛ himself cuts a second portion from the middle of the iḍā with the space between his thumb and the fore-finger; then the adhvaryu sprinkles over the iḍā in the right hand of the hotṛ ājya as above.²³⁸³ The hotṛ grasps the two portions with the thumb of his right hand, draws in the fingers of the right hand, but (keeping the thumb outside) does not close them into a fist, takes into his right hand the iḍā placed in his left. He (the hotṛ) raises the iḍā on a level with his mouth or nose and invokes it.