History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c49.s1.2
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c49.s1.2
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The word Varuṇapraghāsa is masculine and is always employed in the plural. The Śat. Br. (II. 5. 2. 1) gives a fanciful etymology viz. that yavas (barley grains) belong to Varuṇa and as these are eaten (from *ghas* to eat) in this rite it is so called. This rite is performed in the rainy season four months after Vaiśvadeva on the Full Moon day of Āṣāḍha or of Śrāvaṇa. The sacrificer should go out of his house to a spot where plenty of shrubs grow. Two altars (vedi) have to be prepared to the east of the āhavanīya inclined towards the east, one south of the other. The northern vedi is in charge of the adhvaryu and the southern one in charge of his assistant, the pratiprasthātṛ (Āp. VIII. 5. 5.). The latter follows the adhvaryu in doing the same actions on the southern vedi that are done by the adhvaryu on the northern vedi except carrying the water forward, girding the wife, producing fires and a few others specified in Kāt. V. 4. 33; all the orders (sampraiṣas, like 'agnaye samidhyamānāya anubrūhi') are to be uttered once and everything that concerns the uttering of words is to be done by the adhvaryu only (Āp. VIII. 5. 17)²⁴⁵⁷. But Jai. XII. 1. 18 says that the mantras for taking ājya, for prokṣaṇa and the like are to be recited by the two separately. The procedure is like that of Vaiśvadevaparvan except where special directions are given. The two vedis are separated from each other by a space (at the corners) two, three or four aṅgulas or a span or even wider (Āp. VIII. 5.
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10). There is a single utkara. The pratiprasthātṛ moves between the two vedis. On the previous day he makes ready pots full of *karambha* i. e. husked grains of barley slightly fried on the dakṣiṇa fire, ground and mixed with curds (Kāt. V. 3. 2). According to Āp. (VIII. 6. 3) it is the wife that makes these *karambhapātras*. These *pātras* exceed by one the number of the children (sons, unmarried daughters, grandsons and unmarried grand-daughters) of the house-holder (Kāt. V. 3. 3-5, Āp. VIII. 5. 41, who includes daughters-in-law) or they are at least three (if the house-holder is childless or has only a son or two). The figures of a ram and ewe are also made of the remaining part of the ground and fried barley used for the *karambhapātras*, the male being made by the adhvaryu and the female by the pratiprasthātṛ and each figure having the characteristic signs of sex. The figures of the ram and ewe are covered by the adhvaryu and pratiprasthātṛ respectively with a bunch of the wool of some animal other than the eḍakā (wild goat) or with the ground tips of kuśa (in the absence of wool). Besides the five offerings common to all cāturmāsyas (these being offered in the Varuṇapraghāsas with all attributes and subsidiaries as in Vaiśvadeva, according to Jai. VII. 1. 17-21), in this rite offerings are made to four more, viz. Indra and Agni, the Maruts, Varuṇa and Ka i. e. Prajāpati (Āśv. II. 17.
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14) and the offerings are a cake on twelve potsherds (for Indrāgnī), payasyā or āmikṣā (for Maruts and Varuṇa) and a cake on one potsherd for Ka silently. All offerings are made from *yava* or only the *karambhapātras* are so made and the figures of the ram and the ewe also are made from *yava* and the rest from rice grains (Āp. VIII. 5. 36-37). The anuvākyā and yājyā verses of each of these four special offerings to Indrāgnī, Maruts, Varuṇa and Ka are respectively²⁴⁵⁸ Ṛg. VII. 94. 18, VI. 60. 1; I. 86. 1, V. 58. 5; I. 25. 19, I. 24. 11; IV. 31. 1, X. 121. 1 (Āśv. II. 17. 15). Straight to the east of the āhavanīya about three prakramas from it the northern vedi is prepared and several rules are laid down in Kāt. (V. 3. 13 ff) and its com. about its extent. The northern vedi is six or seven aratnis in length from west to east, its western side is four *aratnis* and its eastern side is three aratnis or the vedi may be even much larger than this. On this vedi a fire-place is constructed with the earth dug up from the sacrificial pit called cātvāla which is measured with a yoke-pin 32 aṅgulas in length and made to the east of the *utkara* and after leaving a space between it and the utkara for the priests to move about.
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The pit is knee-deep, is outside the uttaravedi to its east and is measured from the northern corner of the uttaravedi at a distance equal to the yoke-pin and is square, the east side being 32 aṅgulas in extent or ½ of the vedi or of the extent of a yoke or of ten steps of the yajamāna (on all sides). In the midst of the northern vedi a hole (*nābhi*) is made, a span in length on four sides and having four corners or it may be as large as the hoof of a bull or a horse. On the uttaravedi water is sprinkled with a mantra and gravel is also spread with 'a lioness art thou' (Vāj. S. V. 10). That night the uttaravedi is covered with darbhas. In the morning the adhvaryu and pratiprasthātṛ carry forward fire on to the two *vedis* from the gārhapatya (according to Āp. VIII. 5. 22) or from the āhavanīya (according to Kāt. V. 4. 2–3) by means of kindled fuel-sticks (*idhma*) held in earthen pots or by dividing the āhavanīya in two parts. Jai. (VII. 3. 23–25) declares that the carrying forward of the fire is done only in the Varuṇapraghāsas and Sākamedhas. The pratiprasthātṛ draws with the sphya a line from the āhavanīya to the northern hind corner of the southern vedi or of the uttaravedi (according to Kāt. V. 4. 9–10) or he connects the two vedis (Āp. VIII. 5. 20) by drawing a line from the north hind corner of the southern vedi to the south front corner of the uttaravedi.
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He surrounds the hole (*nābhi*) with three sticks (*paridhis*), one span long, of devadāru tree on the west, south and north (with Vāj. S. V. 13) and puts down thereon guggulu (bdellium) and perfumed substances and the hair on the head or between the horns of a ram and places the fires on these materials (*sambhāras*). The pratiprasthātṛ places dakṣiṇa fire on a square mound of one *aratni* in length after drawing lines and sprinkling water. The figure of the ram is put in the payasyā meant for Maruts and that of the ewe in the payasyā meant for Varuṇa. The liquid called *vājina* (of both payasyās) is collected in separate pots and in the payasyā are put the fruit of *karīra* and leaves of *śamī*. All the offerings except the payasyā for Maruts and the pots of karambha are placed by the adhvaryu on the uttaravedi; while the pratiprasthātṛ places the payasyā for Maruts together with the pot for ājya and also the karambha pot (if the yava grains for them had not been taken out by the adhvaryu) on the southern vedi and the vājina is placed near the utkara by both. When the adhvaryu issues a direction to the āgnīdhra 'please sweep clean the paridhis of the two fires' (the two āhavanīyas on the two vedis) with the ropes binding the idhma, the pratiprasthātṛ goes to the sacrificer's wife sitting near the gārhapatya and asks her to declare what lover or lovers (jāra)²⁴⁵⁹ she has.
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She either declares the names of her lovers or lifts up (if she feels shame in the declaration) as many blades from the bunch of darbhas lying on the ground as the number of lovers she has had. If she names any, he (the pratiprasthātṛ) declares that Varuṇa will seize him or them. If she conceals the truth, the result would be that her dear relatives would suffer. If she has none she says so. In that case or when she has declared or intimated her lover or lovers, the pratiprasthātṛ makes her repeat the verse 'praghāsino havāmahe' (Vāj. III. 44). The pots are placed in a śūrpa made of iṣīkā (reed) in which a little ājya is sprinkled, then there is further sprinkling of ājya thereon twice (abhighāraṇa), the śūrpa is placed on the head of the wife who is led by the pratiprasthātṛ between the fires and the seats of the brahmā priest and the sacrificer to the east of both āhavanīyas and then to the northern vedi; and she standing to the east of the dakṣiṇa fire with her face to the west takes down from her head the śūrpa into her right hand and offers the contents (using the śūrpa²⁴⁶⁰ as a juhū ladle) into the dakṣiṇa fire with 'mo ṣu ṇa indrātra' (Ṛg. I. 173. 12, Vāj. S. III. 46 or Tai. S. I. 8. 3. 1) muttered by the sacrificer and with the verse 'yad grāme' (Vāj. S. III. 45, Tai. S. I. 8. 3. 1) uttered by the wife as offering prayer (yājyā). Āp. (VIII. 6.
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26) says that the adhvaryu or pratiprasthātṛ may offer the oblation of karambha pots and the sacrificer and his wife may only touch his hand from behind. When the pratiprasthātṛ leads back the wife to her seat near the gārhapatya fire (by the same way that she came) he makes her repeat the verse 'akran karma' (Vāj. S. III. 47, Tai. S. I. 8. 3. 1). Then the adhvaryu offers the five offerings common to all cāturmāsyas (stated above) and the cake to Indra and Agni on twelve potsherds and then sits silent. Then the pratiprasthātṛ cuts off a portion of the āmikṣā for Maruts together with the whole of the figure of the ewe (this is the first avadāna) and offers it into fire. He mixes the second portion of the payasyā for Maruts with the leaves of śamī and fruits of karīra and offers it. Then the adhvaryu offers two portions from the āmikṣā meant for Varuṇa mixing the figure of the ram in the first or second avadāna for Varuṇa. According to Āp. (VIII. 6. 31) the adhvaryu offers the first portion of the payasyā along with the figure of the ram and the second portion of payasyā having in it the fruit of karīra and the leaves of śamī. Then the adhvaryu offers the cake to Ka silently. Then both adhvaryu and pratiprasthātṛ make an offering to Agni Sviṣṭakṛt. The fee (dakṣiṇā) is either a cow with its calf or a horse or six or twelve bulls.²⁴⁶¹