History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c93.586

v7.c93.586

The Āgneya is the *prakṛti* in which the *nirvāpa* (offering) is to be made with the words 'I offer to Agni what is liked by him'; in the Sauryayāga, which is a vikṛti of Āgneya, the offering has to be made with the words 'I offer to Sūrya what is liked by him.' In the Vājapeya we read 'he offers to Bṛhaspati *nirvāpa* grains cooked on seventeen pans'. The Vājapeya is a modification of Darśapūrṇamāsa in which the grains of rice are sprinkled with water; therefore sprinkling has to be done on nīvāra grains also (PMS IX. 2. 40). On the 2nd and following days of the Jyotiṣṭoma sacrifice there is recitation of the Subrahmanyā litany²¹⁸⁰ addressed to Indra by the Subrahmaṇya priest, beginning with the words 'Indra āgaccha, hariva āgaccha, Medhātither-meṣa &c'. In the Agniṣṭut sacrifice also there is Subrahmaṇyā-nigada²¹⁸¹ addressed to Agni. In reciting it the word 'Agne' is substituted for 'Indra'; but the following words 'Hariva āgaccha' is are not to be changed and are to be recited, as they are attributes which may be predicated of Agni also (PMS IX. I. 42-44). The principle deduced by the Mīmāṁsakas seems to be that, only if the words in the original mantra cannot at all be extended to the modified yāga as they stand, then *ūha* may have to be resorted to but not otherwise. Śabara however, notes that the 'yājñikas perform *ūha* (i. e. adapt them by suitable changes) i. e. they recite 'agne āgaccha rohitāśva bṛhad-bhāno' etc.). It is noteworthy that, according to PMS II. 1.34 and Śabara thereon, a mantra as adapted (*ūhita*) is not called a mantra, since only those are mantras²¹⁸² that are recognized as such by the learned. In the Darśapūrṇamāsa when the priest takes out four handfuls of grains and puts them in a winnowing basket he repeats over three of the handfuls the mantra which literally means 'at the command of God Savitṛ, with the arms of Aśvins and with the hands of Pūṣan I take out for Agni thee that art dear (to him)'.²¹⁸³ The PMS holds (in IX. 1. 36-37) that the words Savitṛ, Pūṣan, Aśvin are not to be changed by ūha in the modifications of Darśapūrṇamāsa where the deity to which the offering is to be made is not Agni. Śabara assigns rather far-fetched meanings to the words Savitṛ, Aśvins and Pūṣan (as in the note below) and says that they are meant to eulogize the laying aside of the handfuls of grains for offering. There is another interesting case where there is no *ūha*. In the Darśapūrṇamāsa there is a *praisa* (direction) 'set down ²¹⁸⁴ the water for sprinkling, put down the fuel sticks and the bunch of kuśa grass, clean the *sruc* and *śruva* ladles, gird up the wife (of the sacrificer) and come out with clarified butter'. Suppose the sacrificer has two or more wives. Still the singular 'patnīm' was to be used and not the dual or plural either in the model itself (IX. 3. 20) or in any modification thereof (IX. 3. 21). Dharmaśāstra works make use of *ūha*. The Viṣṇudharmasūtra provides that one should perform Śrāddha of one's maternal grand-father and the latter's two male ancestors in a similar way by the ūha of the mantra.²¹⁸⁵ The mantra in the case of the śrāddha of male ancestors is 'Śundhantām pitaraḥ' (Āp Śr I. 7. 13), which should be changed into 'Śundhantām mātāmahāḥ', vide Mit. on Yāj. I. 254 and H. of Dh. Vol. IV p. 513 n. 1142a.