History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c51.55
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c51.55
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On the uparavas slender kuśas with tips to the east or north are spread and over them are kept two boards (of udumbara or palāśa or kārśmarya wood) called adhiṣavaṇa-phalaka2568a between which there is a space of two aṅgulas (towards the west) which are one aratni long, are washed with water, their eastern face being curved like the board of a wheel and the western face being straight. In modern practice the boards are not curved on the east, but are straight. The wood is dry and well planed. In sacrifices in which soma is pressed on more days than one the boards are grooved and made to fit in each other and pierced with a nail. The boards are made firm by driving two pegs through them in front, two behind and one each to the north and south (so that they will not recede). Vide Baud. VI. 28. The space of two fingers between the two is filled with the dust dug out from the uparavas. One board is placed on the two southern uparavas and the other on the two northern ones. On the two boards is placed a hide (called adhiṣavaṇa-carma), which is red and cut up all round to fit in with the boards, with the neck portion to the east and the hairy portion up. On the hide are placed four stones (grāvan) for pressing soma juice. The adhvaryu then issues directions to spread barhis over the great vedi (except the uttaravedi, the khara, uparavas and dhiṣṇyas, Sat. VII. 7. p. 727) and for making the sacrificer take only one-fourth of the fast milk on which he is to subsist (according to Kāt.
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VIII. 6. 30, half of the milk). Then begins the procedure of the sacrifice of an animal to Agni and Soma (jointly). This is on the same lines as the nirūḍhapaśubandha which has already been described. The various actions such as paristaraṇa, placing the sacrificial pātras, prokṣaṇa are gone through. One more ladle called pracaraṇī made of vikaṅṭaka wood and resembling a juhū is used in addition (Āp. XI. 16. 6). The pratiprasthātṛ (or neṣṭṛ according to Sat. VII. 8, p. 736) brings the wife from her usual place (the patnīśālā). The sacrificer's near relatives who always share the same roof are called. The yajamāna touches the adhvaryu, the wife touches the sacrificer, the sons and brothers of the sacrificer touch the wife. They are all covered with a fresh piece of cloth and the adhvaryu offers with the pracaraṇī offerings of ājya called Vaisarjina²⁵⁶⁹ to Soma (Kāt. VIII. 7. 1, Āp. XI. 16. 15). Then comes the carrying forward (praṇayana) of Agni and Soma. Fire is kindled on the āhavanīya and is carried to the uttaravedi. Numerous utensils and vessels are taken to the great vedi beyond the sadas for use in the animal sacrifice and in the pressing of soma next day and kept in proper places.²⁵⁷⁰ Fire is established in the āgnīdhra dhiṣṇya. The soma stalks are taken to the havirdhāna maṇḍapa and placed in the southern cart (havirdhāna) on a black antelope skin. The sacrificer consigns the soma to the care of gods with a mantra ‘God Savitṛ! here is thy soma’ (Vāj. S. V. 39, Tai. S.
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I. 3. 4. 2). Then the yajamāna gives up the intermediate dīkṣā after offering into the āhavanīya a samidh with the mantra ‘Agne vratapate’ (Tai. S. I. 2. 11. 1, Vāj. S. V. 40) i. e. he loosens his girdle and his fists (that so far had been clenched), gives up the vow of silence (to be observed at both sandhyās) and his fast food and he hands over his staff to maitrāvaruṇa (Āp. XI. 18. 6). He may on the next day (soma pressing day) partake of soma and the leavings of sacrificial food. Hereafter he may be addressed by name and food prepared in his house may be taken by others (Kāt. VIII. 7. 22). Then the sacrifice of the animal to Agni and Soma takes place (of the omentum, the paśupuroḍāśa and havis). Jai. after a lengthy discussion (VI. 8. 30-43) holds that this paśu must be a chāga (a goat). Jai. (VIII. 1. 12) states that the procedure of darśa-pūrṇamāsa is followed in this animal sacrifice and not of soma sacrifice. Vide also Jai. VIII. 2. 10-14. Animal sacrifice has already been described above (pp. 1109-1131); but there are a few points of difference between the nirūḍha-paśubandha and the agnīṣomīya paśu offered the day previous to the soma-pressing day; viz. the svaru is not offered into fire in the latter nor is the heart-spit discharged. According to Jai. III. 7. 43-45 the maitrāvaruṇa is the priest where praiṣa and anuvākyā are to be uttered (ordinarily the praiṣa is given by adhvaryu and the anuvākyā is uttered by hotṛ.).
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When the omentum is offered a direction is issued to the subrahmaṇya priest to chant the subrahmaṇyā²⁵⁷¹ litany for inviting Indra in which the sacrificer is described as the son, grandson and great-grandson of so and so and as the father and grandfather of so and so (vide note 2550 above). Hereafter wherever the subrahmaṇyā is to be recited it is in this form. The agnīṣomīya rite ends with the Patnīsaṁyāja (Sat. VII. 8. p. 757). When the subrahmaṇyā call has been made, standing with his face to the west he brings in a jar the water from a flowing river that starts from a mountain,²⁵⁷² but he should not pass over a river that is near his place, even if it does not start from a mountain. He takes this water before the sun sets and from a spot in the river where the shadow of a cloud and sunshine meet or (if that is not possible) in the shadow of one's own body or of a tree or of the river bank. He should fill the jar with water against the stream with 'haviṣmatīr' (Vāj. S. VI. 23, Tai. S. I. 3. 12. 1). Śat. Br. III. 9. 2. 8-9, Kāt. VIII. 9. 8-10 and Āp. XI. 20. 10-12 suggest other alternative sources for the water. He enters with the jar of vasatīvarī water²⁵⁷³ by the path between the utkara and cātvāla, takes it by the north of the āgnīdhra shed, enters the śālā by the eastern door and places the jar to the west of the śālāmukhīya²⁵⁷⁴ fire.
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In the second watch of the night the adhvaryu carries the jar of vasatīvarī waters on his shoulder and takes it round the altar and fires in several ways (minutely described in Āp. XI. 21. 3-5, Sat. VII. 8. p. 759 and Kāt. VIII. 9. 18-23). At that time only the sacrificer and his wife are allowed to stay inside and all others have to go out. Ultimately the vasatīvarī jar is placed in the āgnīdhra shed (Āp. XI. 21. 5, Kāt. VIII. 9. 23) and the soma plant also is placed in the same hut but on the āsandī (a large stool or couch). The sacrificer2574a keeps awake or is kept awake that night in the āgnīdhra shed or in the havirdhāna shed and guards the soma stalks, while the wife keeps awake in the prāgvaṁśa (the usual sacrificial hall). All the priests stay that night in the āgnīdhra shed and no one is to stay in the sadas. That night the pratiprasthātṛ draws milk in the evening for the payasyā (āmikṣā) to be offered to Mitra and Varuṇa the next day and the adhvaryu issues orders to milk the cows that yielded the fast milk for the sacrificer and his wife for making respectively from their milk *āśir* (i. e.
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soma mixed with milk) and for the graha (cup) of curds (dadhi) and to milk the cow that yielded the milk in the pravargya rite for dadhigharma²⁵⁷⁵ (a warm beverage made with inspissated milk) and for the milk that will be heated but not mixed with butter milk (to be offered) to Mitra and Varuṇa and boiled milk mixed with butter milk and brought to the state of curds for the Āditya graha (cup). The priests deck themselves with ornaments and fine clothes and stay for the night in the āgnīdhra shed.