History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c62.181

v4.c62.181

The Baud. Gṛhyaśeṣasūtra (I. 23) contains the procedure of coronation, the whole of which is quoted by the Bālambhaṭṭī on the Mitākṣarā on Yāj. I. 309. It is briefly as follows:—On the 5th or 13th *tithi* of the bright half when the moon is in Puṣya or Śravaṇa or in any other auspicious constellation (*nakṣatra*), two brāhmaṇas are fed (the day previous). Then a worthy *purohita* is chosen, who mutters certain texts. At sunset the purohita makes a lotus-like circle in which are collected the materials viz. waters of the ocean and of rivers mixed with rice, barley, sesame, māṣas and *pañcagavya*, and a *bhadrāsana* made of udumbara, a tiger-skin, and golden jars and horns of cows. In the north-east part of the palace, a *homa* is performed with eight thousand *āhutis* (oblations) of rice &c. to the accompaniment of the *vyāhṛtis*, the *Gāyatrī* and the *mantra* to Tryambaka (Tai. S. I. 8. 6. 2). The priest first propitiates the goddess Lakṣmī with the hymn¹¹⁰ to Śrī and then washes the crown with cow's urine and dung, milk, curds, clarified butter and with water mixed with *kuśas* to the accompaniment of appropriate mantras, and ties an amulet (*pratisara*), and sprinkles the king and his conveyance (horse). At sunrise next day (the day of coronation) the tiger-skin is spread on the throne, the king sits thereon facing the east, the priest takes the golden jars and sprinkles the king with water falling upon him from the cone-like horns of cows with several mantras (such as those addressed to waters, Varuṇa &c.). After the king is made to take a bath, a fee of a thousand *niṣkas* and a hundred *dāsīs* is paid to the brāhmaṇas. Then the crown is placed on his head and drums are beaten.