History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c48.23

v3.c48.23

*Barhirāharaṇa* (bringing in the bundles of sacred kuśa grass for use). There are various stages in this operation, each stage having its own mantra. The mantras are short prose formulæ which occur in the Tai. S. I. 1. 2. They are not set out in detail here. The various stages are: he (adhvaryu) takes up a sickle or the rib of a horse or ox kept to the north of the gārhapatya with the famous mantra 'devasya tvā savituḥ prasave ...... ādade' (I take thee at the impulse of God savitṛ &c.). He pays homage to the gārhapatya with a mantra. The sickle (but not the rib) is heated on the gārhapatya fire. He then goes to the east or north of the sacrificial ground (vihāra) for some distance, finds out a spot where the desired grass grows, leaves aside one clump of darbhas from those growing there and marks as many clumps of darbha as he feels would be enough for his purpose, leaves one clump or one or two blades with the words, 'I leave you aside as the portion of beasts', touches those darbhas that he intends to cut with 'this is for the gods', holds them by his closed fingers (of the left hand), rubs them upwards with his right hand, brings the sickle in close contact with them, repeats a mantra over the grass and cuts off as much as can be held in his closed fingers the nails of which touch each other. This first handful of blades that are cut is called *prastara*. Then he further cuts an uneven number of handfuls of darbhas (3, 5, 7, 9, 11),²²⁸⁵ repeating the same processes and mantras for each handful, touches the stumps from which blades are cut off with the mantra 'God Barhis! may you grow into a hundred shoots' and touches the region of his heart with 'may we grow into thousand branches'. He touches water and passes round a handful of darbhas a cord (śulba) from left to right, then puts thereon another handful of darbhas and passes a cord round it. In this way three or five handfuls are surrounded by a cord, which has its end stretched on the ground towards the east or north. Then heaps of blades are added on and over the last heap the *prastara* is placed. The whole is then firmly bound with the cord and a knot is made. He takes hold of the bundle thus tied, raises it up, places it on his head, returns with it by the way he went, keeps it inside the *vedi* on some grass (and not on the bare ground) near the spot where the middle paridhi would be. He pronounces over the barhis thus placed a mantra and keeps the barhis near the gārhapatya on a mat or the like. He also cuts off silently and brings along with *barhis* other darbhas called *paribhojanīya* and dried up kuśa grass also (*ulaparāji*).²²⁸⁶