History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c93.575

v7.c93.575

The 7th chapter deals with the general question of the extension or transference of details in general (i. e. atideśa in general) to Aindrāgna and other sacrifices. *Atideśa* is the process or method by which the details prescribed in connection with one rite are taken beyond that rite and transferred to another. Śabara quotes from some ancient author a śloka defining atideśa. The sacrifice from which details are transferred is called *prakrti* (model or Archetype) and the sacrifice to which details are transferred or extended is called *vikrti* (or Ectype). Atideśa may be provided for by *vacana* (Vedic text) or by the name The first is of two kinds viz. by a direct statement or by an inferential process. For example, as regards a magic sacrifice called Iṣu the text says, after speaking of some details, that the rest are the same as in ²¹⁷⁴ Śyena. An instance of an inferential *vacana* is the extension to the Saurya sacrifice of the details of the Āgneya in Darśapūrnamāsa, because both are very closely connected and because no details are prescribed by the text about 'Sauryayāga' (PMS VII. 4. 1). The name also is two-fold, viz. name of a rite and name of a *samskāra*. The Māsāgnihotra prescribed (vide PMS II. 3. 24) in Kuṇḍapāyīnām-ayana is a different rite from the obligatory Agnihotra (as in 'yāvajjīvam-agnihotram juhuyāt') as proved above, but the name 'agnihotra' being common to both, the details of the usual Agnihotra (such as milking the cow, offering curds or milk, using a Khadira fuel stick &c.) are to be extended to Māsāgnihotra (Jai. VII. 3 1-4). Extension due to *samskāra* name is instanced in Jai. VII. 3 12-15. In the Varuṇapraghāsa (one of the cāturmāsyas), Avabhṛtha (bath) is prescribed, but no details are added and therefore the requisite details are to be taken from the rules about the Avabhṛtha in Somayāga.²¹⁷⁵