History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.t2.918

v4.c63.t2.918

36\. ‘The acceptance of the kindling of a log of wood (i. e. setting up sacred Vedic fire) at the time of the *homa* of Jātakarma for the purpose of securing long life to the child born to a person’ (l. 29). The *araṇis* are two logs of Aśvattha tree from which fire is produced by attrition, which (fire) is used for kindling the gārhapatya fire. In certain śākhās, it is the practice to kindle fire from araṇis and to use it for the homa in the Jātakarma rite. This fire was to be used in the subsequent rites for the child such as cūḍā, upanayana, marriage. It was supposed that this enabled the child to live long.¹⁸⁵⁶ The Saṁ. K. quotes a pariśiṣṭa text to this effect.¹⁸⁵⁷