History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c51.3.4

v3.c51.3.4

The sacrificer while in his house implants his gārhapatya and āhavanīya fires on the araṇis with a mantra ‘ayam te yoniḥ’ (Vāj. S. III. 14., Tai. S. I. 5. 2), comes to the devayajana, enters (along with the priests and his wife) the maṇḍapa by the eastern door with the araṇis in his hand, and touches the central post of the pavilion. The things that are required (sambhārāḥ)²⁵³⁶ are also brought to the pavilion. In the pavilion a vedi is prepared and fires are established after being produced by attrition. Offerings of ājya with the sambhārayajus formulas (Tai. Ā. III. 8), with the sapta-hotṛ formulas (Tai. Ā. III. 5) are made and also a yūpāhuti is offered. Outside the pavilion to its north the sacrificer gets the hair on the head, arm-pits and on the face cut by a barber in a tent covered with mats, pares the nails of his hands first (of the right hand first from the small finger) and then of the feet. Jai. (III. 8. 3–11) establishes that it is the sacrificer (and not the adhvaryu) who pares his nails, cuts his hair, brushes his teeth, subsists on milk. Sat. VII. 1. p. 587 states that the nails of the left hand are pared first and then of the right hand. He brushes his teeth with an udumbara twig, then he bathes in a reservoir of water or in a kuṇḍa after putting a golden piece in it with mantras, performs ācamana and drinks water as a consecration.