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History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c49.s4: Āgrayaṇa (offering of first fruits)

History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c49.s4

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Āgrayaṇa (offering of first fruits)

v3.c49.s4.1

²⁴⁷⁵ Vide Śat. Br. II. 4. 3, Āp. VI. 29. 2 ff, Āśv. II. 9, Kāt. IV. 6, Baud. III. 12.

v3.c49.s4.2

This is an iṣṭi, without performing which an *āhitāgni* was not to make use of freshly harvested rice, barley and millet. It was either performed on a New Moon day or Full Moon day, but the procedure was the same as that of the iṣṭi on New Moon. The time of the āgrayaṇa iṣṭi with rice is śarad (autumn) when one had ample rains.²⁴⁷⁶ As barley crops became ready in vasanta (spring), the āgrayaṇa for yavas was to be performed in spring. Āśv. allowed an option that when the iṣṭi was once performed in the autumn one may not perform it in spring for the barley crop. The iṣṭi for millet crop (śyāmāka) was performed in the rainy season and therein a caru was offered to Soma. The iṣṭi was so called because therein the first fruits (agra) were first employed or eaten (ayana).²⁴⁷⁷ According to Āp. (VI. 29. 6) there are 17 kindling verses (sāmidhenī), which number is obtained by inserting two additional verses called dhāyyā after the 8th or 9th sāmidhenī of the darśa-pūrṇa-māsa iṣṭi. The deities and offerings are a cake on twelve potsherds for Indra and Agni (or according to Āp. VI. 29. 10 and Āśv. II. 9. 13, it is either Aindrāgna or Āgnendra), a caru cooked in milk or water for All Gods (Viśve Devāḥ) silently, a cake on one potsherd to Heaven and Earth and caru to Soma (if the first fruits are millets). Kāt. IV. 6. 7 allows an option that the *caru* for All Gods may be of old rice. For him who performs only daily agnihotra or who does not perform any iṣṭi except darśapūrṇamāsa Kāt. IV. 6. 11 and Āśv. II. 9. 4 prescribe that he may make his agnihotra cow eat the first fruits, viz., rice or barley bundles or food and with the milk of that cow perform on the āgrayaṇa day the homa. But this alternative was not open to the king who had to perform this iṣṭi (Āśv. II. 9. 6). According to Kāt. (IV. 6. 16-17) the caru of millets for Soma is performed only for the forest-dweller and a caru of bamboo seed is prescribed for Soma in summer. About the dakṣiṇā there are various opinions. According to Kāt. (IV. 6. 18) it is either a repaired waggon or silken cloth, madhuparka (i. e. honey, curds and ghee) or the cloth worn by the sacrificer in the rains. According to Āp. (VI. 30. 7) the first among the calves born before the Full Moon of Māgha is the fee, and cloth for iṣṭi with millets. Jai. has several sūtras about silk cloth and a calf being the dakṣiṇā in this rite and that rice cooked on dakṣiṇa fire is not the fee (vide X. 3. 34-38). Vide also Jai. XII. 2. 34-37 (about the characteristics of the *barhis*).

v3.c49.s4.3

²⁴⁷⁶ यदा वर्षस्य तृप्तः स्यादथाग्रयणेन यजेत । ...... अपि वा क्रिय । यवेषु । आश्व. II. 9. 3 and 5.

v3.c49.s4.4

²⁴⁷⁷ अग्रे अयनं भक्षणं येन कर्मणा तदाग्रयणम् । प्रथमद्वितीययोर्ह्रस्वदीर्घत्वव्यत्ययः। com. on आश्व. II. 9. 1.

v3.c49.s4.5

The āgrayaṇa sacrifice in the gṛhya fire has been already described (pp. 827-829) and it will have been noticed that it was a replica of the śrauta sacrifice meant for those who had consecrated the three Vedic fires.

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