History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c50.25

History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c50.25

Language: English

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The paśu is meant either for Indra-Agni or Sūrya or Prajāpati and one has to dedicate the victim throughout one’s life in every paśubandha to that deity which one chooses at the first animal sacrifice (Kāt. VI. 3. 29–30). He anoints the victim with ājya from the juhū ladle on its forehead, its shoulders and its hind parts after the last āghāra is offered (as in darśa-pūrṇamāsa) and before dhruvā-samañjana (ladling ājya in the dhruvā ladle with the juhū thrice, once with a mantra and twice silently). While the animal stands²⁴⁹⁷ he offers the prayājas, that are eleven in the paśubandha (while in darśapūrṇamāsa they are only five and in cāturmāsyas they are nine). The method of offering these in paśubandha is as follows: the adhvaryu directs the maitrāvaruṇa to request the hotṛ to repeat the yājyā verses from the Āprī hymns of the prayāja offerings in succession. The praiṣas (directions to the hotṛ) that the maitrāvaruṇa utters are rather lengthy and hence the text of only one is given below.²⁴⁹⁸ There are ten Āprī hymns in the Ṛgveda ascribed to ten different sages. They are: I. 13 (of Medhātithi Kāṇva), I. 142 (of Dīrghatamas Auchathya, an Āṅgirasa), I. 188 (of Agastya), II. 3 (of Gṛtsamada, a Śaunaka), III. 4 (of Viśvāmitra), V. 4 (of Atri), VII. 2 (of Vasiṣṭha), IX. 5 (of Kāśyapa), X. 70 (of Vadhryaśva), X. 110 (of Jamadagni). Out of these in Ṛg. I. 13 and I. 142 there are verses for both Tanūnapāt (2nd prayāja deity) and Narāśaṁsa; while Ṛg. I. 188, III. 4, IX. 5 and X.

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110 have only Tanūnapāt (and no Narāśaṁsa) and the rest have only Narāśaṁsa (and no Tanūnapāt). According to Āśv. III. 2. 5–7, persons of Śunaka and Vasiṣṭha gotras should repeat their own Āprī hymn (viz. II. 3 and VII. 2 respectively), persons of gotras other than these two should employ the Āprī hymn beginning with 'samiddho adya' (according to the com. Ṛg. X. 110 and not I. 188) or persons of any one of the ten gotras may employ an Āprī hymn²⁴⁹⁹ ascribed to the founder of his gotra if he is from among these ten sages. The words of Āśv. I. 5. 21–22 create some difficulty. Āśv. there prescribes that when uttering the yājyā at the time of offering the 2nd prayāja, the formula should contain an address to Tanūnapāt for all except for persons of Vasiṣṭha, Śunaka, Atri, Vadhryaśva and Rājanya gotras. These latter should utter a formula addressed to Narāśaṁsa. Here if 'rājanya' refers to Viśvāmitra, then the difficulty is that in the Āprī hymn (III. 4) ascribed to him, the 2nd deity is Tanūnapāt and not Narāśaṁsa; but it is possible that the word 'rājanya' stands for a kṣatriya sacrificer in general and does not refer to Viśvāmitra gotra at all. After ten prayājas are offered, the adhvaryu says to the slaughterer of the victim 'bring your two-edged knife.' The adhvaryu takes the *svaru* (chip of wood) and anoints the svaru and one edge of the knife with the clarified butter from the bill-like (or spout-like) part of the *juhū* ladle (according to Āp. VII. 14.

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10 the svaru is anointed thrice) and holding the svaru below the knife touches with both the head of the victim (forehead, according to Kāt. VI. 5. 12) with a mantra (Vāj. S. VI. 11, Tai. S. I. 3. 8. 1). After placing back the svaru whence it was taken the adhvaryu gives the knife back to the slaughterer (śamitṛ) with the words 'let this edge be marked by you' (Śat. Br. III. 8. 1. 5). The animal when killed is cut up by the slaughterer with the un-anointed edge and the flesh when roasted is cut up with the edge that is anointed. The adhvaryu directs the maitrāvaruṇa to recite a mantra for indicating that fire (a fire-brand) is being carried round the victim and the maitrāvaruṇa recites 'agnirhotā no' (Ṛg. IV. 15. 1) or the verses Ṛg. IV. 15. 1–3 (according to Āśv. III. 2. 9). To the north of the cātvāla pit, he digs up a spot for establishing the Śāmitra fire.²⁵⁰⁰ The āgnīdhra, lighting a fire-brand at the āhavanīya, carries it thrice round the victim, the yūpa, the āhavanīya fire, the place where the śāmitra fire is to be kindled, the cātvāla pit and the clarified²⁵⁰¹ butter, from left to right with the mantra 'pari vājapatiḥ kaviḥ' (Ṛg. IV. 15. 3, Tai. S. IV. 1. 2. 5). In modern times the priest perambulates all these together and not separately. The āgnīdhra throws the firebrand on to the āhavanīya fire and again goes round the above objects thrice from right to left. According to Āp. VII. 15.

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4–6, the adhvaryu makes one, two, three or four offerings of ājya, with mantras called *apāvya*, when fire is carried round the victim, when it is set free from the yūpa and led on (Tai. S. III. 1. 4. 1–2). The āgnīdhra, again taking up the same fire-brand, starts to go with his face to the north and the victim is led after the āgnīdhra by the śamitṛ (who takes away the cord of girdle from the victim's head and ties it round its neck). The pratiprasthātṛ (an assistant of adhvaryu) touches the animal (that is being led northward) from behind with two utensils (spits) made of kārśmarya wood (used for roasting vapā, omentum), the adhvaryu touches the pratiprasthātṛ and the sacrificer touches the adhvaryu.²⁵⁰² A pit is got dug (by a servant) for covering in it the undigested food and the fœces of the victim when killed. They (the priests and yajamāna) should not pass beyond the place for the śāmitra fire.

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The adhvaryu takes two kuśa blades from those with which the vedi is strewn and says to āgnīdhra 'O3śrā3vaya' and the latter replies 'astu śrau3ṣaṭ' and then the adhvaryu issues an upapraiṣa (a supplementary direction) to the maitrāvaruṇa to prompt (the hotṛ) to recite for the offerings to Gods.²⁵⁰³ The hotṛ then recites the famous (but long) adhrigupraiṣa,²⁵⁰⁴ which is an invocation to divine and human slaughterers calling upon them to bring the animal to the holy doors of the sacrificial place, wishing that the parents, relatives and friends of the victim will consent to its death and expressing the hope that its several organs and limbs, such as the eyes and ears, will be merged in divinities like the sun and giving directions as to how its parts are to be cut and disposed of. On reciting this solemn formula the hotṛ, while still occupying his seat, turns to the right (i. e. he comes to face the west) and has the sacrificial place behind his back and the maitrāvaruṇa does the same. The adhvaryu throws one of the two blades taken up by him to the west of the śāmitra fire, the victim is held over that blade with its head to the west (or to the east, according to Kāt. VI. 5. 17) and feet to the north. Then its mouth is firmly held so as to stop its breathing and choke it to death or it is strangled to death without allowing it to give out a cry, by using a halter round its throat.

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The adhvaryu says ‘kill it without²⁵⁰⁵ allowing it to utter a cry’ and then he along with the pratiprasthātṛ, āgnīdhra and the sacrificer come back to the āhavanīya which they face, turn from left to right and remain with their backs to the animal that is being killed (i. e. they do not see the actual slaying of the animal). According to Āp. VII. 16. 7 the sacrificer repeats at this time several verses such as Tai. S. III. 3. 1. 2, Tai. Br. III. 7. 7, the purport of which is that the victim may go to heaven, the sacrificer himself also may go to heaven after securing welfare in this world. When the śamitṛ declares that the victim is killed the adhvaryu says ‘let it lie down for a moment.’ If the paśu bleats while being strangled the adhvaryu then offers ājya in fire (as an expiation). The sacrificer and adhvaryu with vapāśrapaṇīs (spits) approach the dead victim with the words 'O slaughterers, may you approach' (Tai. S. III. 1. 4. 3). He then removes the cord (by which the victim was tied) with 'may Aditi remove this cord' (Tai. S. III. 1. 4. 2). He winds round the raśanā (girdle of the victim) into a loop, keeps it on the arteries of the victim leading to the ears, attaches it to a peg and throws it into the cātvāla pit (Āp. VII. 17. 4–6). According to Kāt. VI. 5. 26 he throws the tying cord into the cātvāla by means of the two vapāśrapaṇīs. Then the adhvaryu directs the pratiprasthātṛ to lead forward the sacrificer's wife from her seat to the vedi.

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When leading her who has a jar of water in her hands for washing the feet and other limbs of the paśu, the priest²⁵⁰⁶ makes her recite a verse in honour of the sun 'namaste ātāna' (Vāj. S. VI. 12, Tai. S. I. 3. 8. 2). Āp. adds that the wife, priests and the sacrificer touch water on the cātvāla pit (VII. 18. 4) with a mantra (Tai. S. I. 3. 8. 2 'āpo devīḥ). The wife sitting down near the dead paśu washes with water the several parts of the victim's body viz. its mouth, nose, eyes, navel, penis, anus, feet (all together) with appropriate formulae in each case (viz. 'vācaṃ te śundhāmi' &c. Vāj. S. VI. 14). With the water remaining in the jar the adhvaryu and sacrificer sprinkle the other parts, such as the head, with Vāj. VI. 15 (Tai. S. I. 3. 9. 1). The adhvaryu turns the animal on its back and places on the victim's body a blade of kuśa with its end to the east about four fingers²⁵⁰⁷ below the navel of the animal with 'oṣadhe trāyasva' (Vāj. S. VI. 15), places the marked edge of the knife on that blade, makes a slit on the kuśa blade and the belly obliquely, takes in his left hand the portion of the blade cut off and anoints the ends of the other portion of the blade with blood (that spirts out from the slit) with 'thou art the portion of evil spirits' (Vāj. VI. 16), touches water and throws that blood-stained blade on the utkara.²⁵⁰⁸ The sacrificer treads²⁵⁰⁹ upon the blood-stained blade with the left foot (and then touches water with his hand).

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The adhvaryu then pulls out from the belly of the victim the omentum, envelopes the two spits ²⁵¹⁰ (vapāśrapaṇīs) with it, pierces the thin end of the vapā with one spit, severs it from the belly on all sides and sprinkles it with water holding the spits over the cātvāla pit. Then the pratiprasthātṛ heats the omentum on the śāmitra fire. The adhvaryu, pratiprasthātṛ and āgnīdhra come from the cātvāla to the āhavanīya. The āgnīdhra throws the śāmitra fire (viz. the firebrand and not the fire produced by attrition) into the āhavanīya and the adhvaryu also throws into it the portion of the blade held in his left hand (as stated at p. 1123 above). Āp. (VII. 19. 3) adds that the śamitṛ holds tightly by the closed fingers of his hands the two portions of the skin of the victim's belly till the omentum is offered into fire. The pratiprasthātṛ, standing to the north of the āhavanīya fire, heats the omentum on that fire, then carries it by the space between the yūpa and āhavanīya, goes round to the south side, and roasts the omentum on the āhavanīya. The adhvaryu takes clarified butter in the sruva ladle and pours ājya on the omentum that is being held for roasting on the āhavanīya by the pratiprasthātṛ with a mantra. When drops (stokas) of fat begin to drip from the omentum, the adhvaryu directs the maitrāvaruṇa to recite for the drops. The maitrāvaruṇa recites Ṛg. I. 75. 1 and Ṛg. III. 21.

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1-5.²⁵¹¹ When the omentum is well roasted, the pratiprasthātṛ says to the adhvaryu 'it is roasted, proceed.' The omentum is placed on the south corner of the western side (śroṇi) of the vedi on a branch of plakṣa tree stretched on the barhis (kuśa grass on the vedi). Then the hotṛ recites the mantra for srugādāpana (making the adhvaryu take up the juhū and upabhṛt ladles) and the adhvaryu issues a direction²⁵¹² to the maitrāvaruṇa priest to ask the hotṛ to recite the last Āprī verse as the yājyā for the 11th prayāja (which had remained to be recited). Having offered ājya (the 11th prayāja) into fire and having offered the two ājyabhāgas (according to Jai. X. 8. 5 and some others the ājyabhāgas are not offered in independent animal sacrifices nor in the animal sacrifice in soma-yāga, Āp. VII. 20. 8) he puts ājya in the juhū ladle, places a piece of gold thereon, then the whole omentum on that piece (taking it from the spits), places another golden piece on the omentum, on which he pours ājya.²⁵¹³ The adhvaryu then offers into the āhavanīya the omentum so treated to Indra and Agni (or Sūrya or Prajāpati as stated above on p. 1117). The anuvākyā and yājyā of the vapā are respectively Ṛg. I. 93. 1 and 5. According to Āśv. III. 4. 4. the *pradānas* (*yāgas*) in all paśubandhas are three, viz. vapā, puroḍāśa and havis.

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After offering vapā, the adhvaryu throws, while standing to the north, into the āhavanīya the vapāśrapaṇī spits, the one with two forks having the forks in the east and the other having its point turned to the west (according to Āp. VII. 21. 3 it is the pratiprasthātṛ who does this). The adhvaryu offers on the spits the *saṁsrāva* (the drippings). Āp. (VII. 21. 5) and some other sūtras prescribe that the fee of one bull and three milch cows or three other cows is given to the priests at this stage. The priests (six), the sacrificer and his wife go out to the cātvāla and there purify themselves by *mārjana* (purifying with drops of water) with 'idamāpaḥ pravahata,'²⁵¹⁴ Vāj. S. VI. 17 and Ṛg. X. 9. 8 (while Āp. VII. 21. 6 prescribes five, viz. the three 'āpo hi ṣṭhā' Ṛg. X. 9. 1-3, 'idamāpaḥ' Ṛg. I. 23. 22, 'nirmā muñcāmi' Ṛg. X. 97. 16 = Vāj. S. XII. 90). When doing this the maitrāvaruṇa lays down his staff (Āśv. III. 5. 1).