History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c89.42
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c89.42
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v7.c89.42.1
Apart from the simple śāntis for appeasing deities in sacrificial matters, even the Ṛgveda contains indications that there were other occurrences which were thought to be unlucky and against the supposed evil effects of which some remedies were employed For example, Ṛg X. 164 (1-5) is a hymn declared by the Anukramaṇī and Ṛgvidhāna IV. 20 1 as counteracting the indications of bad dreams¹¹⁵⁷ Verse 3 of it is 'May Agni place far away from us all evil and undesirable actions which we may have done while awake or asleep whether by our desires or imprecations or want of desire'. In Ṛg. V 82 4-5¹¹⁵⁸ the poet prays ‘O God Savitṛ! today produce for us welfare endowed with progeny and frighten away the effects of bad dreams; O God Savitṛ! drive away all sins (or evils) and confer on us what is beneficent’ (or auspicious). In Ṛg. II. 28 10 the poet prays ‘O king Varuṇa! whoever, whether a helper or a friend, declares to me who ascertained a danger (from what I saw) in a dream or whoever, a thief or a wolf, intends to harm me, from that guard us’. In Ṛg. VIII. 47. 15 the sage exclaims ‘we deliver all our bad dreams to Trita Āptya, your kindness cannot be obstructed by any one, the protection given by you is good’. Vide also Ṛg. VIII 47 14, 16-18, X 36. 4, X. 37, 4 for bad dreams. Similarly, the Ṛgveda contains verses which show that cries of birds were deemed to indicate coming good or evil and the hooting of the owl was thought to be unlucky.
v7.c89.42.2
‘It¹¹⁵⁹ (the bird) frequently cries and proclaims what is to come and it propels his speech as an oarsman propels a boat; O bird! May you be auspicious to us; may no overpowering (or unfavourable) phenomenon reach you from any side’. The three verses of Ṛg. II. 43 refer to the cries of birds. ‘The birds, chirping, utter cries towards the south (of the house) like composers of songs that speak for food at various seasons; O bird! when you chirp, speak what would be to our welfare, when you are silent think of good thoughts about us; when flying up (from our house) you utter (cries) like a lute; may we be endowed with valiant sons and speak much in assemblies’. Ṛg. X. 165 contains several verses about a kapota bird and one about an owl. Ṛg. X. 165. 1 and 4 are:¹¹⁶⁰ ‘a kapota bird, messenger of ill-luck, has come to this our house, with whatever (evil) intent, we worship you, we shall perform atonement, O God! May it fare well with our men and quadrupeds. May what the owl expresses (by its hooting) turn out to be fruitless or (untrue). What the kapota bird (expresses) by placing its feet near our Agni (be untrue); here is salutation to Yama, the god of Death, whose messenger is this (bird) sent (by the god)'. The Āśvalāyana-gṛhya provides 'if a kapota (pigeon) strikes against a house (enters it) or flies along its length, the house-holder should offer into fire oblations (of ghee) with each verse of the hymn ('devāḥ kapota', Ṛg. X. 165) or he should recite it inaudibly'.
v7.c89.42.3
The Kauṣītaki-gṛhya provides for the same (in V 5. 1-2) and proceeds¹¹⁶¹ "if a man sees a bad dream or when the cawing of a crow is heard in the night and in the case of other *adbhutas* (untoward or unusual occurrences) he should cook rice grains in the milk of a cow that has a calf of the same colour (as itself) but in no case of a black cow and let him sacrifice with the hymn to Night (Ṛg. X. 127) verse by verse and having partaken of the remnants of the oblations with the *mahāvyāhṛtis* and having recited over his ears the verse 'bhadraṃ karṇebhiḥ' (Ṛg. I. 89.8) and over himself the verse 'śatam-in-nu' (Ṛg I. 89. 9) donate something to the brāhmaṇas". The Śāṅkhāyana-gṛhya (V. 6, 7, 10 and 11) provides: "if a disease befalls a person, he should offer boiled Gavedhuka grains with the hymn 'these prayers to the powerful Rudra' &c verse by verse (Ṛg. I. 114). If the honey bees make honey in a man's house, he should fast and sacrifice a hundred and eight pieces of udumbara wood besmeared with curds, honey and ghee with two verses Ṛg. I.114. 8-9 and murmur the hymn (Ṛg. VII. 35) and if an ant-hill arises in his house the house should be abandoned and having fasted three nights (and days) he should perform the 'Mahāśānti'.¹¹⁶²