History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c48.169

v3.c48.169

When the invocation of Iḍā is finished the adhvaryu passes round the āhavanīya towards its east and takes the prāśitra to the brahmā priest and hands it over to him. Āśv. I. 13. 2 describes in detail what thereon the brahmā does. He looks at the prāśitra when it is being brought with ‘I look at thee with the eye of Mitra.’ He receives the prāśitra in his joined hands with ‘I accept thee at the impulse of god Savitṛ......with the hands of Pūṣan.’ He lays down the vessel containing prāśitra to the west of the āhavanīya inside the vedi on kuśa grass, with its rod to the east, ‘I place thee in the navel of the earth, in the lap of Aditi.’ He takes the prāśitra with the thumb and the ring-finger and eats without masticating it with the teeth with ‘I eat thee with the mouth of Agni, with the mouth of Bṛhaspati.’ Then he performs *ācamana* and again drinks water with ‘I sprinkle truth over thee; may the deities that dwell inside waters avert (the evil in) this. Do not injure my eye, my ear, my life.’ He should touch his navel with ‘I hold thee in the belly of Indra.’ Then he washes the vessel in which prāśitra was contained, fills it with water, pours. water thrice from it holding the vessel and the palm of the hand towards one’s chest.