History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c52.32.8

v3.c52.32.8

Five dice are handed over to the king who is lightly struck by the priests with sticks of sacrificial trees. The king calls as umpires (upadraṣṭṛ) the saṁgrahītṛ, the bhāgadugha (collector of taxes) and the kṣattṛ (Āp. XVIII. 19. 6-8). The play is so arranged that the best throw (of the dice) comes to the king and the worst to his kinsman.²⁶⁵⁵ It appears that the dice play required golden pieces also beyond a hundred or a thousand in number (Āp. XVIII. 19. 1). According to Kāt. (XV. 7. 25-26) the king actually undergoes the avabhṛtha bath, while Lāṭyāyana as stated above differs. After the offering of anubandhyā cow and the performance of the udavasānīyā iṣṭi, a cake prepared from a mixture of rice and barley and baked on twelve potsherds is offered to Indra and Viṣṇu. For ten days after the Abhiṣecanīya he offers successively on each day offerings called 'saṁsṛpāṁ havīṁṣi' respectively to Savitṛ, Sarasvatī, Tvaṣṭṛ, Pūṣan, Indra, Bṛhaspati, Varuṇa, Agni, Soma, Viṣṇu (Kāt. XV. 8. 1-4, Āp. XVIII. 20. 7 which says they are ten or seven and they begin with Agni; Āśv. IX. 4. 6 speaks of only seven). Each of these is offered in fire set up in a devayajana to the east of the preceding one and the last of the ten is offered in the shed prepared for the Daśapeya rite (Āp. XVIII. 20. 8-10, Kāt. XV. 8. 2-3). On each of the ten (or seven) iṣṭis (of saṁsṛpāṁ havīṁṣi) he offers to the priests ordinary or golden lotus flowers and on the tenth day he wears a garland made of those flowers.