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The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c31: Chapter 21. The Domestic Ritual

The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c31

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Contents

Chapter 21. The Domestic Ritual

§ 1. The General Character of the Domestic Sacrifices

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THE householder of the Vedic period was expected to maintain a fire normally in his dwelling, sometimes, however, in a special place outside the actual house. The establishment of such a fire was normal on marriage, on the division of the property of a family, the return of a student from his studentship, or the death of the head of the family, when his eldest son was expected to kindle a new fire. The fire might be produced by friction, but normally it was obtained from the house of a wealthy man, or from one who made many sacrifices. It was the duty of the householder, his son, wife, daughter, or pupil to keep it alive: if it was allowed to go out, it had to be rekindled by friction or reborrowed. If its existence had been interrupted for twelve days, a completely new establishment was prescribed. From it on going a journey the householder took leave and greeted it on his return, kissing his eldest son thereafter to the accompaniment of formulae, while daughters were kissed on the head, not the lips, in silence.

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The sacrifices of the domestic ritual were expected to be performed normally by the householder; his wife, however, might act for him as at the morning and evening libations, and at the evening Bali:¹ a Brahman might be used in nearly every case, though at the Pāka offerings and one or two others the householder was required to act himself, according to some authorities at least; a Brahman was required for the offerings to Dhanvantari and the spit-ox offering.² If the householder wished to perform the function of the Brahman, he placed a sunshade and a garment, or straw puppet, on the seat in the south which a Brahman would occupy, if employed. The Brahmans claimed that at a marriage the formulae for the bridegroom must be said by them unless he were a Brahman himself, evidently an effort to extend their field of employment.³ The sacrificer wore a thread under the left armpit and over the right shoulder at offerings to the Fathers, but in the reverse way for offerings to the gods.⁴

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¹ GGS. i. 3. 15; 4. 19; 4. 29; 9. 8, 9; BhGS. iii. 12.

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² AGS. i. 3. 6.

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³ GGPar. ii. 24. Women are authorities for supplementary rites at marriage, ApGS. ii. 15, though in general not approved, viii. 3; they share in agricultural rites, PGS. ii. 17. 18. The idea that these limited functions are due to priestly influence (Arbman, *Rudra*, p. 103) is implausible.

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⁴ TA. ii. 1; GGS. i. 2. 1 ff.; JGS. i. 1.

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The divisions of the domestic offerings are very differently and confusingly given by the different authorities:⁵ clearly the matter was not one of agreement: one division¹ distinguishes seven species of Pāka offerings, where Pāka probably denotes cooked food, another² distinguishes what is offered in fire, what is exposed merely, offerings to the Manes, and offerings which are given to a Brahman to eat. The material included milk, barley gruel, porridge, curds, melted butter, rice, barley, sesame, and, but very rarely, animal victims. The butter offering—various kinds of butter³ are distinguished—is of a fairly simple character: a ladle called Darvī, or a Sruva, is used; also blades of grass for purifying purposes, water to cleanse the grass blades, and kindling sticks, while enclosing sticks are laid around the fire. The Pāka offerings⁴ differ from the Çrauta in having no fore- or after-offerings, no invocation of the Iḍā, and no kindling verses or instruction formulae, known as Nigadas. At the end of some at least of the rites, a ceremony called the Yajñavāstu is performed: of the grass of the sacrifice a handful is taken, dipped in the butter, with a request to the birds to lick it, sprinkled in water, and offered to Rudra as lord of the beasts.⁵

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⁵ Weber, *Ind. Stud.* x. 326; Oldenberg, SBE. xxx. p. xxiii.

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¹ ÇGS. i. 1. 15.

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² ÇGS. i. 5. 1.

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³ AB. i. 3. 5, with comm.; Macdonell and Keith, *Vedic Index*, i. 250, 437; ii. 20.

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⁴ See Arbman, *Rudra*, pp. 64 ff.

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⁵ GGS. i. 7 ff.; AGS. i. 10. 6 ff.

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The animal victim is prescribed for a guest reception, for offerings to the Fathers, and at marriage: there is also a special spit-ox offering. The cow is the normal victim, but a goat is allowed to take its place. The ceremony of the offering was clearly akin to that of the Çrauta ritual; there is the same touching of the victim, the setting up of a Çāmitra fire, which is derived from the fire-brand thrice carried round it, the taking out first of the omentum and its separate offering, and the cutting of pieces of flesh. The feast was in effect an opportunity, doubtless readily appreciated, for a meal of flesh.⁶

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⁶ Macdonell and Keith, *Vedic Index*, ii. 145–7.

§ 2. The Various Offerings

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The daily offerings of the householder include offerings at night and morning to Agni and Prajāpati, and Sūrya and Prajāpati respectively:⁷ there is, however, great divergence as to the nature of the offerings, usually rice or barley, and the exact deities and times of offering. Further, there are five great offerings to be performed;⁸ the first is the Devayajña, that for the gods made in the fire morning and evening, when the meal is ready. The second, that called Bhūtayajña or Bali,⁹ is offered on the ground for all manner of beings; in the version of Gobhila, the first is for earth, the second for Vāyu, the third for the All-gods, the fourth for Prajāpati, then the fifth is offered in the water-holder for the god of the waters, the sixth at the middle posts for plants and trees, and the seventh at the house-door for the ether; an eighth in the bed for Kāma, and finally one in the dustbin for the Rakṣases. But many other names are also given, including offerings to hosts of serpents. The third great offering, the Pitṛyajña, is the throwing of the rest of the Bali sprinkled with water to the Fathers. The fourth, the Brahmayajña, is the repetition of some part of the Veda, usually reduced within narrow limits, and the fifth, the Manuṣyayajña, is the feeding of Brahmans, guests, and beggars.

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⁷ GGS. i. 3. 16; MGS. ii. 3. 1, 2; JGS. i. 23. The cow, however, may be let go; cf. BhGS. ii. 25 f.; VārGS. xii; BGS. i. 2, where great stress is laid on the use of a ram or goat in lieu, or flesh of a wild beast, and in default only is cereal allowed.

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⁸ GGS. i. 4. 1 ff.; PGS. ii. 9. 3 ff.; AGS. i. 2. 4 ff.; ÇGS. ii. 14; Kauç. lxxiv. 2; BGS. ii. 9; BhGS. iii. 14; VārGS., p. 22.

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⁹ Cf. Chap. 12, § 5; Arbman, *Rudra*, pp. 189 ff.

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In the version of Çāṅkhāyana,¹ Vaiçvadeva offerings are made in the fire evening and morning to Agni, Soma, Indra and Agni, Viṣṇu, Bharadvāja Dhanvantari, Viçve Devās, Prajāpati, Aditi, Anumati, and Agni Sviṣṭakṛt. Then come the actual Balis offered in the centre of the floor for the same deities, followed by Balis for Brahman and the Brahmans and Vāstoṣpati. Balis are then distributed through the different quarters of the horizon in due order to the presiding deities, Indra, Yama, Varuṇa, Soma, and Bṛhaspati, each with those connected with him. Then turning towards the disk of the sun offerings are made to Aditi and the Ādityas, the Nakṣatras, seasons, months, half-months, days and nights, and years. On the thresholds offerings are made to Pūṣan as maker of ways, Dhātṛ, Vidhātṛ, and the Maruts; on the grindstone to Viṣṇu, on the mortar to the tree; in the place where the herbs are kept to the herbs; near the water-pot to Parjanya and the waters; at the head and the foot of the bed respectively to Çrī and Bhadrakālī; in the privy to Sarvānnabhūti; in the air in the evening to the night-walkers, in the morning to the day-walkers; in the north to the unknown gods and Dhanapati, the lord of wealth. Finally the remnants are poured out in the south for the Fathers, and then a Brahman or student and women are formally fed, as well as boys and the old. In this version we have a duplication which shows the fire ritual encroaching on the ordinary Bali ritual, which involves merely the placing on the ground of the offering for the use of the divinities. There is no doubt of the substantial antiquity of the latter rite, which is attested for Iran by the express and clear assertions of Herodotos,² and has also parallels in the usage of the Slavs, Lithuanians, and Germans.³ It is further clear from Çāṅkhāyana that we have in this elaborate rite the development of something far more simple and primitive, the purpose of which is hinted at in the further directions which are given that one should eat nothing without having cut off and offered a portion thereof as a Bali, nor should one eat alone or before others. Not merely the eating of firstfruits is a dangerous thing, rendering a preliminary offering to the gods and the Fathers desirable to break any taboo, but in every case of a meal it is well to propitiate by sharing the food which is enjoyed.⁴ Hence Çāṅkhāyana recommends, though not as part of the formal rite, the giving of food to the dogs, the dog-butchers, and the birds, and Manu¹ formally includes in the Bhūtayajña dogs, outcastes, diseased persons, birds, and insects. In the Kauçika Sūtra² we find abstract deities, Dharma, Adharma, hope, faith, wisdom, prosperity, modesty, and knowledge, along with the Vedic gods and snake deities such as Vāsuki, Citrasena, Citraratha, Takṣa, and Upatakṣa.

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¹ ii. 14; Arbman (*Rudra*, p. 191) omits Brahman and Varuṇa, doubtless *per incuriam*.

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² i. 132.

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³ Carnoy, *Les Indo-Européens*, p. 232.

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⁴ Cf. GGS. i. 4. 20; Manu, iii. 117 f.; RV. x. 117. 6; MGS. i. 9. 13; at the Madhuparka, AGS. i. 24. 15 ff.; ÇGS. iv. 21. 7 ff.; PGS. i. 3. 18 f. See also the Prāçitra legends, TS. ii. 6. 8. 3; ÇB. i. 7. 4. 1. Arbman (*Rudra*, pp. 204 ff.) compares modern Tibetan (JRAS. 1894, pp. 265 ff.) and Indian usages, as well as Greek and Roman and other parallels. Cf. Hubert and Mauss, *Mélanges*, pp. 74 ff.; Hopkins, *Origin of Religion*, pp. 155, 171.

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¹ iii. 92.

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² lxxiv. 2 ff.

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In this generosity we may take it gods, Fathers, and men shared with all manner of beings, and the term Bali applied to all the offerings. Bhūtayajña may well have been a synonym, whence first were differentiated by regard to the recipients of the offerings the Fathers and men, Pitṛyajña and Manuṣyayajña. All these offerings were precisely of the same kind, made in the same way, without the use of fire, but the domestic ritual suffered expansion by the priests³ through the introduction of the fire ritual, and we have the spectacle of the Devayajña introduced making up with the Brahmayajña, Vedic study,⁴ a set of five sacrifices. The Devayajña, it is plain, is later than the Bhūtayajña in this connexion, and this renders the effort⁵ to interpret Bhūta in the light of the existence of the Devayajña out of the question. It is significant of its later character that the deities of the Devayajña differ greatly and are largely priestly; thus Gobhila⁶ make them to be the late figure of Prajāpati and the technical one of Agni Sviṣṭakṛt, who is far removed from popular rites. The absence of fire is found also, as we have seen, in parts of the Çrauta ritual, as in the hanging of offerings for Rudra on trees, a usage familiar from Germanic ritual, and it is common in the ritual of offerings to the dead which are frequently placed in pits.

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³ Cf. ÇB. xi. 5. 6. 1, which has the five; ApDS. i. 12. 13 (*brāhmaṇokta*).

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⁴ This is patently late; cf. ApDS. i. 13. 1; Manu, iii. 80 f.

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⁵ Arbman, *Rudra*, pp. 189 ff., who fails to realize the complex and artificial character of the series of five, and the essential unity of the meal in which all share, gods generically, Fathers, and men.

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⁶ i. 4. 3.

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The new and full moon offerings⁷ of the domestic ritual agree closely in the deity and other details with those of the Çrauta, but for cakes are substituted paps as offerings, and the offerings to Indra or Mahendra entirely disappear. Other deities are, however, sometimes substituted. At the end the wife of the sacrificer makes an offering to the man, the woman, the age—or the bird, the white, the black toothed, the lord of bad women and others, who are difficult fully to explain. The sacrificer and his wife should spend the night before the offering in telling each other stories, and the sacrificer should follow some at least of the other rules applicable to the sacrificer with the Çrauta ritual. A spring festival in the month Caitra⁸ is recorded by one Sūtra only, figures of pairs of beasts are made from meal, which suggest a vegetation magic as at the Varuṇapraghāsas of the Çrauta ritual.

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⁷ GGS. i. 5; 8. 22; AGS. i. 10. 5; ApGS. vii. 17.

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⁸ ÇGS. iv. 19. Cf. MGS. ii. 7. 6–8 (the *talpa* is addressed).

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At the month Çrāvaṇa,¹ when the rains begin and snakes become very dangerous, an offering is made to appease them in the southern fire by the keeper of the fires, in the house fire by the ordinary householder, or a fresh fire may be lighted. In that offerings are made to many deities, including the earth spirit, Bhauma, the rains, Çravaṇa, as well as Agni, Sūrya, Vāyu and Viṣṇu; Çveta, a genius which is with its foot to drive away the snakes is also invoked. The second part of the sacrifice is one addressed directly to the snakes, who are given water to wash themselves in, a comb to comb themselves with, unguents, and so forth. Finally a Bali is offered to the snakes of the three regions: it is made of groats or roasted barley. This performance goes on daily, until the time when the beds of the sacrificer and his wife, which have been raised up since the beginning of the rains, are replaced on the ground with the advent of drier weather. A stream of water is poured round the house to keep the snakes at the desired distance from it.

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¹ GGS. iii. 7. 3; AGS. ii. 1. 15; ÇGS. iv. 15; PGS. ii. 14. 9; ApGS. xviii. 5-xix. 2; HGS. ii. 16; MGS. ii. 16; BGS. iii. 10; BhGS. ii. 1.

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On the full moon of Prauṣṭhapada² an offering is prescribed by one Sūtra for Indra, Indrāṇī, the one-footed goat, the serpent of the deep, and the Prauṣṭhapadas, and a Bali at the end to the Maruts, the other receiving butter libations. The mention of the two rare deities is clearly due to the presence of the twin Nakṣatra, Prauṣṭhapadas.

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² PGS. ii. 15.

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On the full moon of Açvinī³ is prescribed an offering to Paçupati, Çiva, Çaṅkara, and Pṛṣātaka; it consists of the sacrifice of a mixture of milk with butter. The deities, however, differ greatly, and it is not clear that the ceremony is intended for the welfare of the herds. The priest and the sacrificer partake of the Pṛṣātaka, and put on amulets, and later the cows are allowed to have a share of it, and eventually the calves and the cows are shut in together.

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³ AGS. ii. 2. 1; ÇGS. iv. 16; PGS. ii. 16; GGS. iii. 8. 1-8; KhGS. iii. 3. 1. Pṛṣātaka is really the name of the offering, and it is characteristic that Āçvalāyana turns it into a deity which none of the others do, and adds Çiva and Çaṅkara as forms of Paçupati. In MGS. ii. 3. 4-8 Pṛṣātaka and cows are both revered.

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The Āgrahāyaṇī festival⁴ is celebrated at the full-moon day of the month Mārgaçīrṣa: it is, as the name denotes, the festival of the beginning of a new year, and is characterized by a thorough cleaning of the house, followed by a smoking of it parallel to German rites observed at the new year, in which the house is smoked. The offerer also pours water into a water-jug set on a firm stone, which constitutes the consecration of the water-holder, in which daily Balis are offered. The use of six or nine kinds of plants in this ceremony is paralleled by the use of nine in Germany. At this time, the danger from snakes being over, the beds come back to the ground: the ceremony is carried out in due form, the householder sitting on a strew west of the fire with the rest of the family beside him in order of age, and then his wife and children, and those of the other members of the family: the earth is entreated to be friendly to them all. The snakes also receive offerings. A special form of snake offering¹ is commenced in Bhādrapada for one injured by a snake: a five-headed snake of wood or clay is made and revered for a whole year.

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⁴ GGS. iii. 9; AGS. ii. 3; ÇGS. iv. 17; PGS. iii. 2; ApGS. xix. 3; HGS. ii. 17; MGS. ii. 7. 1-5; BhGS. ii. 2; Weber, *Naxatra*, ii. 332.

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¹ AGPar. iii. 16. For magic rites against snake-poison, see Henry, *La magie dans l'Inde antique*, pp. 108 ff., 198 ff.

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Of the occasional offerings the most interesting is the Arghya,² the paying of honour to special guests, namely the teacher, the priest, a Snātaka, if he come as a wooer or on the day when he completes his studies by the bath, whence his name is derived, a connexion by marriage, or a friend. Only once a year apparently should the full ceremony be paid, but constantly to a priest invited to sacrifice. The gifts are six, one or two stools to sit on, water to wash the feet, Argha water, a portion of which is poured over the guest's hands, water to cleanse the mouth, the Madhuparka, a mixture of curds, honey and ghee, with or without water and barley groats. The guest may eat all, or give a portion to a son or pupil or other person: the king merely accepts *pro forma* and gives them to his Purohita. Finally the cow is offered and slain, unless the guest politely declines the offer, when other flesh may be used in its place. The deity varies in the cases of the different guests, Agni, Bṛhaspati, Indra and Agni, Prajāpati, Indra and Mitra, being given as the appropriate gods, for obvious reasons in most cases.

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² GGS. iv. 10; AGS. i. 24; ÇGS. ii. 15; PGS. i. 3; ApGS. xiii. 20; HGS. i. 13; MGS. i. 9. 1; BhGS. ii. 23-6; BGS. i. 2.

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The directions as to the building of the house³ are numerous and complicated. Of interest is the fact that the presence of certain plants and certain trees on the chosen place, or in its vicinity, is forbidden: the Açvattha is connected with the Açvins and causes the danger from fire, Yama's Palāça danger of death, Varuṇa's Nyagrodha danger of fighting, and Prajāpati's Udumbara bad eyes. The chosen place is thrice surrounded by a thin stream of water. The food chamber should be where water runs away, the parlour looking north, but opinions vary: the door should be in the west: it is also desirable that the householder should be ensured privacy at his meal and ritual. When the posts are driven into the earth, an Avakā plant is put in the hole to prevent fire. When the middle post is put in, Kuça grass is strewn, water, rice, and barley are poured on it, and homage paid to the earth spirit. An anointed stone is also buried, to which a parallel exists in the burying of stones in Buddhist temples in Siam. When the house is complete, an offering is made to Vāstoṣpati, which is repeated yearly according to some authorities. Brahmans are fed, and expected to wish good luck for the place. Even a black cow or a white goat may be offered: the former in its colour is similar to the black cock killed at the foundation of a new house in Greece.⁴ Ten Balis are also offered to the quarters. Of human sacrifice there is no trace in the ritual, which is meant in special of ordinary houses: such a practice is only recorded of the much more important Agnicayana. But there are traces of such a practice later¹ in legends and in history, perhaps coming from a period when the simple buildings of Vedic India had been superseded by large buildings of stone, which, like the brick altars, were supposed to need special measures to make them secure.

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³ GGS. iv. 7; AGS. ii. 7, 8; HGS. i. 27; MGS. ii. 11; AV. iii. 12; vii. 41; Bloomfield, *JAOS.* xvi. 12 ff.

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⁴ Winternitz, *Mitth. Anthrop. Ges. Wien*, 1887, xvii. 37 ff.

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¹ Haberlandt, *ibid.* 42 ff.

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The new house is entered when complete formally by the householder with his eldest son and his wife: they carry with them food, and partake of honey and butter to secure prosperity in it. On leaving and returning to it formulae of good luck are said.²

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² AGS. ii. 10. 2; ÇGS. iii. 4. 9. For magic rites as to houses see Henry, *La magie dans l'Inde antique*, pp. 96–9. Cf. BGS. i. 5; BhGS. ii. 4–6.

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Other acts of consecration are those of a grove or a tank of water: the offerings in the latter case include one to Varuṇa, as god of the waters.³

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³ ÇGS. v. 3; AGPar. iv. 9, 10.

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The agricultural festivals are not unimportant, and are numerous. Formulae are regularly used for the driving out and the return to their stalls of the cattle.⁴ Many curious performances⁵ are recorded as devices to secure the multiplying of the herds: the marking of a pair of calves male and female is one: in another a pap is offered to Agni, Pūṣan, Indra and Īçvara, and honour is paid to the bull, whose neck and horns are ornamented and who is fed. In the case of a horse, Yama and Varuṇa are included in the offering, and the same respect is paid to the horse. A cow which has two calves should be given away. The spit-ox⁶ sacrifice brings wealth and is of a special character: an ox is offered in spring or autumn to Rudra. The offering is made away from the village after midnight, or at least after sunset: Rudra's twelve names are invoked. The omentum is offered with a leaf or a wooden instrument, not with the Juhū ladle. Balis are offered also in all four quarters to appease the troops of Rudra.⁷ The tail, skin, &c., are thrown into the fire, the blood is poured out on Kuça or Darbha grass for the snakes, to whom formulae are addressed. None of the victims may be brought into the village, since the god is fain to hurt men, no connexion of the sacrificer may be near the place of sacrifice, and he himself shall not eat the flesh save for a very special instruction, in which case, however, he will prosper greatly. In another version of the offering, place is found for the wives of Rudra, Rudrāṇī, Çarvāṇī, Bhavānī, and for Indrāṇī: the blood-covered entrails are burned or cast into the fire. In another quite different form⁸ the offerings take the place of three messes of rice, which are offered to three animals, a bull, a cow, and a calf, which are styled the Çūlagava or Īçāna, the bountiful one, and the victor respectively: when the offerings are given, Rudra is hailed by all his names, the second offering is made to the wife of Rudra, the third to Jayanta. The cows are placed round the fire so as to smell the burnt offering, and all go round it from left to right, while verses are addressed to the Çūlagava. It is perfectly clear¹ that here the bull and the cow are fetishes for the god and his wife, but the position of Jayanta is less obvious: possibly a child of the two is deemed to be represented by him. At the same time it must be realized that the beasts are so treated merely as a substitute for the other rite of slaughter; the rite has every appearance of being a later elaboration.

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⁴ GGS. iii. 6. 9.

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⁵ GGS. iii. 6; KhGS. iii. 1; HGS. i. 18.

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⁶ AGS. iv. 8; PGS. iii. 8; not in GGS.; very briefly in MGS. ii. 5. Cf. BhGS. ii. 8–10; BGS. ii. 7.

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⁷ Arbman, *Rudra*, pp. 156 ff.

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⁸ HGS. ii. 8; ĀpGS. xix. 13 ff.; see above, Chap. 18, § 4.

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¹ Haradatta’s effort to ignore this is quite indefensible.

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Another rite,² the Baudhyavihāra, a curious name of dubious origin, for the propitiation of Rudra and his hordes, is the making of a basket of Palāça leaves, the placing in it of rice and butter, and hanging it on a tree as an offering to the god as wearer of the quiver: the offerer also spreads leaves about and touches the cattle with a number of things, with sandal, salve, Surā, water, cow-dung, and a cow’s tail to secure luck. Further, an offering is made to Kṣetrapati,³ who is represented by a bull as at the Çūlagava rite.

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² HGS. ii. 9. 7; ApGS. xix. 20.

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³ HGS. *l. c.*; ApGS. xx. 13 ff.

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Mention is also made, as appropriate to be performed on the new moon after full moon in Phālguna, of the marking of the cattle, which is accompanied by the expression of the hope that the work will be more in the following year.⁴ The ceremony of letting loose a bull⁵ is performed at the full moon of Kārttika: it is performed by lighting a fire among the cows, offering six libations of butter and a pap for Pūṣan, and with a verse addressed to Rudra the bull is set free, after being ornamented. The Brahmans receive a meal for the preparation of which milk from all the cows has been used.

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⁴ ÇGS. iii. 10; cf. MGS. ii. 10. 1 ff.: the women are not to eat of one offering (a *tundila* (?) for Agni).

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⁵ PGS. iii. 9; Kauç. xxiv. 22. For other magic rites for cattle see Henry, *La magie dans l'Inde antique*, pp. 102–6; for agriculture, pp. 106–111. See also AV. vi. 141; Delbrück, *Guru-pūjākaumudī*, p. 48. AV. ii. 32 is directed against worms in cattle.

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Of agricultural rites proper there are several of importance. The ceremony of ploughing is formally accomplished after the plough has been yoked.⁶ On the east side of the field an offering is made before the plough to sky and earth. Among the deities to whom offerings are also made are Indra, Parjanya, the Açvins, the Maruts, Udalākāçyapa, Svātikārī, Sītā and Anumati, and others: the bulls receive honey and butter. Other rites of the same kind are those to the furrow, the offering on the threshing-floor, at sowing, at harvest and at threshing, and here may be mentioned the offering made to avert danger from the moles or mice to the king of the moles or mice: a similar practice may be the explanation of the connexion of the mouse with Apollo in which totemism has been so often seen.⁷

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⁶ ÇGS. iv. 13; GGS. iv. 4. 27 ff.; PGS. ii. 13; Kauç. xv.

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⁷ Cf. Lang, *Custom and Myth*, pp. 103 ff.; Farnell, *Cults of the Greek States*, iv. 164, 265, who lays stress on the probability that the connexion is rooted in pre-Hellenic custom.

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The offering to the furrow is described at some length in one Sūtra.⁸

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⁸ PGS. ii. 17; cf. MGS. ii. 10. 7.

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East or north of the field on a place which is pure, and has been ploughed without injury to fruits, or in the village, a fire is kindled, and Darbha grass mixed with rice or barley, according to the season, is strewed round it: then offerings of butter are made to Indra, Sītā, the furrow, and Urvarā, the ploughfield, and from the food cooked in a pot to Sītā, Yajā, the personified sacrifice, Çamā, ‘energy’, and Bhūti, ‘prosperity’. On the Kuça grass remaining from the strewing an offering is made to the guardians of the furrow, who sit in the east with bows and quivers, in the south to those with mail, in the west to the mighty Bhūti, Bhūmi, Pārṣṇi, and Çunaṁkuri, and in the north to the terrible ones. The women should also make offerings.

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In a period lying outside the Vedic period proper we are carried by the Caitya offering which is recorded in one Sūtra:¹ it is interesting, as it seems clearly to refer to the offering of homage to the memorials erected to the memory of some teacher or other distinguished personage. The procedure contemplates that the Caitya cannot be visited in person: therefore the sacrificer prepares two bales of food, and gives them to a messenger real or symbolical, to take to the destination, providing the messenger with a weapon and boat, if the journey is a long one. The offering to Dhanvantari, which is mentioned with emphasis as needing the co-operation of priests, is not explained in the texts.

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¹ AGS. i. 12; Oldenberg, SBE. xxix. 178. Similar late offerings are those to Ṣaṣṭhī (MGS. ii. 13), who is giver of wealth and is called Çrī; to the Vināyakas (*ib.* 14; Yājñ. i. 274 ff.); to Nejameṣa (*ib.* 18. 4). The Soma text gives remedies for evil omens from a pigeon (ii. 17) and evil dreams (ii. 15).

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The offerings of firstfruits belong to the domestic as well as to the Çrauta ritual; as in it there are offerings of rice, barley, and millet at different periods, and at these offerings Indra, Brahman, and Vāsuki are to receive libations. Another similar offering is the Āsasyabali, to be performed by the householder alone, of barley up to the rice harvest, and of rice up to the barley harvest.²

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² GGS. iv. 7. 43; i. 4. 30; ÇGS. iii. 8. 1; PGS. iii. 1. 1; ApGS. xix. 6.

§ 3. Birth Ceremonies and others

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As is natural the domestic ritual devotes much space to the minute description of large number of rites, mainly magical in essence, which accompany the child from even before birth to its death. In the third or fourth month or even later after pregnancy takes place the rite for quickening a male child, Puṁsavana,³ the essence of which consists in the placing in the nostril of the wife by her husband of a Nyagrodha shoot, which he purchases in due form and which is pounded, either by a young girl, or a student or a wife who is keeping a vow, or a Brahmabandhu, a term which is perhaps best taken as a Brahman by birth only, not by learning. A further rite is that to prevent an abortion, or more generally to secure the safety of the embryo, which is accomplished by offering a cooked mess, and rubbing butter on the limbs of the wife.¹ The ceremony of the parting of the hair² is performed once only for the first pregnancy, and is not repeated: it is celebrated in the fourth month or later. The wife sits west of the fire, her husband puts round her neck an Udumbara branch with an even number of unripe fruits, he parts her hair from the front backwards with Darbha grass,³ Vīratara (‘very male’) wood, a full spindle, and a porcupine’s quill; he also makes her look at the mess of rice, sesame, and ghee, and asks her to see in it offspring. Some authorities allow two lute players to sing the king, or him that is higher than the king, that is Soma. One special Gāthā is prescribed which should end with the name of the stream on which the people dwell, and one or two such verses have been preserved to us. Other authorities provide for Brahman women sitting beside her, and uttering phrases indicating that she is to be the mother of living children. Old Brahman women are said also to be the authorities for the acts to be done in these cases. The wife should keep silence after the rite until the stars appear, when she should touch a calf, say the Vyāhṛtis, Bhūḥ, Bhuvaḥ, Svar, and then speak. There are also ceremonies for the actual birth: the place is anointed against the Rakṣases: a Brahman loosens all the knots in the house, as in Germany all doors and locks are opened; water and the Tūryantī plant are placed before the mother.⁴ If the child dies in birth, special rites are ordered. When the child is born alive, a fire⁵ is lit in the house to warm utensils and be used for the smoking of the child,⁶ which is performed by throwing into the fire grains of corn and hemp, with formulae to drive away demons of various kinds. For ten days the offering of sesame and rice grains is prescribed. On the twelfth day the special fire disappears, the old household fire comes out into use, the purification of the wife and child having been performed.

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³ GGS. ii. 6; ÇGS. i. 20; HGS. ii. 2; MGS. i. 16; BGS. i. 9; BhGS. i. 22; JGS. i. 5; AV. iii. 23; vi. 11; vii. 17, 19. Magic rites for love purposes are rare outside Atharvan texts, e. g. RV. x. 145, 159, 162, 183; TS. ii. 3. 9. 1; MS. ii. 3. 2; TB. ii. 3. 10; BAU. vi. 4; ApGS. ix. 4; xxiii. 3; see Bloomfield, *Atharvaveda*, pp. 69 ff.

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¹ ÇGS. i. 21; HGS. ii. 2. 7. Cf. also Kauç. xxxiv. 3–11.

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² GGS. ii. 7; ÇGS. i. 22; PGS. i. 15. 3; ApGS. xiv; HGS. ii. 2; MGS. i. 15; cf. Kauç. xxxv. 20 with Keçava’s comment; BhGS. i. 21; BGS. i. 10; JGS. i. 7.

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³ For the later practice of putting on a red mark, to frighten demons, see Hopkins, *Origin of Religion*, p. 119, and cf. VārGS. xvi.

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⁴ ApGS. xiv. 14; HGS. ii. 2. 8; Henry, *La magie dans l’Inde antique*, p. 143.

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⁵ ÇGS. i. 25. 4; PGS. i. 16. 23; JGS. i. 8.

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⁶ The Greek ritual substitutes an Amphidromia in which the child is carried swiftly round the fire to acquire strength and speed. The fire here too purifies.

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Immediately on birth are performed the ceremonies for securing long life, the Āyuṣya, and the production of intellect, Medhājanana: in the case of girls these ceremonies may be performed, but then without the accompanying formulae. The father breathes thrice upon the new-born child, and gives it to eat a mixture of butter, honey, and sour milk, to which others add rice and barley, and even whitish black and red hairs of a black bull. The child is fed with a golden instrument. In some authorities five Brahmans are expected to invoke its possession of the breaths of life, or the father makes up for this by going about the child in the several quarters. The child is asked to become a stone and an axe, and in some cases these instruments are actually present at the rite. At this point the smoking of the child may take place. Intellect is given by repeating a prayer in the ear of the babe, asking Savitṛ or Mitra and Varuṇa to give it intelligence: with the fourth gold-covered finger butter and honey are given to the infant to eat. Thereafter the navel string is cut, and the child is washed and given the breast. After that a water jug is placed on the head of the mother, and she is commended to the protection of the water.¹

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¹ GGS. ii. 7; AGS. i. 15; ÇGS. i. 24; PGS. i. 16; ApGS. xv; MGS. i. 17; HGS. ii. 3; BGS. ii. 1; BhGS. i. 24–6.

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The child has two names,² one secret for the knowledge of father and mother alone, and apparently given immediately on birth at the life-giving ceremony. This name from its close connexion with the life of the child is not allowed to be known in order to prevent injury through the use of the name by enemies. The second normal name is given on the tenth day in agreement with the Brahmans, or on the twelfth or even a year later. It should be of an even number of syllables, different merits being connected with the diverse numbers, begin with a soft letter, contain a semi-vowel, and end in *s* or a long vowel; for a Brahman it should be a compound³ in *çarman*, 'protection', for a Kṣatriya in *varman*, 'armour', and for a Vaiçya in *gupta*, 'protected'. A girl's name should have an uneven number of syllables. The giving of the name is accompanied by offerings to Prajāpati, the day of birth, the Nakṣatra of that day, and the god of the Nakṣatra. Another name is the Nakṣatra name derived from a lunar mansion such as Rauhiṇa: the notices regarding it are confused with that of the name by which the boy is to designate himself when he becomes a student and announces his name in greeting others, and one or both of these names seem to be made out to be the secret name. A Soma sacrificer may have yet another name in due course. Birthday offerings to Agni, Indra, heaven and earth, the All-gods, the day and constellation of birth, and the deities of both, are prescribed every year.

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² GGS. ii. 7. 15 ff.; AGS. i. 15. 4 ff.; ÇGS. i. 25; PGS. i. 17; ApGS. xv. 8; MGS. i. 18; HGS. ii. 4; Weber, *Naxatra*, ii. 317 ff.; BGS. ii. 1; BhGS. i. 26; JGS. i. 9.

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³ This is the normal Indo-European mode of name formation; cf. Feist, *Kultur der Indogermanen*, pp. 302 ff.

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On the tenth or twelfth day after birth the father and mother and the child are washed, the house purified, and offerings made to the day of birth and three constellations, to Agni and Soma. The special fire is now extinguished, and the old household fire resumes its functions. The child is now named and enters thus into the full life of every day, just as in the Salic law, at the end of nine days,⁴ it received its name and became a subject of wergeld.

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⁴ The variation in India from 9, which is a common number in these cases, is probably due as regards 10 (ÇGS. i. 25. 1; GDS. xiv. 16; VDS. iv. 21) to inclusive reckoning and the fondness for a unit like 10, and in the case of 12 to the frequent use of that number (= that of the months) in the ritual as a period of time.

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On the third day of the third month the moon is revered by the father, and the mother is newly washed, the child being first handed by the mother to the father and then given back to her by him. In the fourth month the first going out takes place, when the child is made to look at the sun. In the sixth month the first solid food is given: its kind is dependent on what qualities are desired, quickness is due to fish eating, holy brilliance to the partridge, glory to rice and butter, oratory to Bhāradvājī flesh, and so on.¹ By one Sūtra an offering to speech and strength is prescribed.

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¹ AGS. i. 16; ÇGS. i. 27; PGS. i. 19. 2; MGS. i. 20; BGS. ii. 3; BhGS. i. 27.

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The ceremony of the tonsure² is usually performed in the third year, or the fifth and seventh for a Kṣatriya and a Vaiçya respectively: the essence of the ceremony is the formal wetting of the child’s hair, the putting of bunches of Darbha on it, the cutting of the right and then the back and then the left side with a razor, which is not to injure the child, and which is addressed as an axe. The hair with the Darbha is thrown away in the cow-stall, near water, or in a pool of water or elsewhere. For three days after, the barber, it seems, must not use the razor: as often, in the case of girls the formulae used for boys are omitted. The hair is then arranged in the peculiar mode of the family, or in a number of tufts according to the number of seers hailed as belonging to the family tree in the Pravara ceremony. The barber receives as his fee rice and butter, or another gift: the family teacher a cow. In the sixteenth year, or the 22nd and 24th for the Kṣatriya and Vaiçya, follows the shaving of the beard based on the same model, but the cutting is extended to hair, beard, hair of the body, and nails. The fee to the priest is a pair of cattle, to the barber a goat. The shorn youth should for a year, or at least three days, observe chastity, and not cut his hair again.³ The piercing of the ears in the third or fourth year is a rite which is only recorded in one late text.⁴

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² GGS. ii. 9; AGS. i. 17; ÇGS. i. 28; PGS. ii. 1; ApGS. xvi; BGS. ii. 4; BhGS. i. 28; HGS. ii. 6; MGS. i. 21. The AV. (vi. 21, 136, 137) has spells to make hair grow.

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³ GGS. iii. 1, 2; AGS. i. 18; ÇGS. i. 28. 19.

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⁴ Speijer, *Jātakarman*, p. 21.

§ 4. Studentship

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A Brahman child in the eighth year from conception or birth, a Kṣatriya in the eleventh, a Vaiçya in the twelfth, should be received as a student by a teacher:⁵ the period can be increased to 16, 22, and 24 years respectively, but after that a youth has lost the right to say the Sāvitrī verse, and should not be associated with, taken as a pupil, permitted to sacrifice, or accepted as a son-in-law: if the Sāvitrī is lost for three generations, the right of the sacraments is lost, and can only be regained by the performance of the Çrauta rite called the Vrātya Stomas. The ceremony of the reception is performed with much form before a fire newly lighted by friction or taken from the household fire: north of it are laid the necessary utensils, a stone, a fresh garment, a skin, a girdle, a staff, and twenty-one pieces of wood. The Sūtras give innumerable details of the garments, the skin, and the staff: the materials and colour differ for each caste: thus the skin is of a black antelope for a Brahman, of a Ruru deer for a Kṣatriya, of a goat or of a sheep for a Vaiçya, their girdles of Muñja, of a bowstring, or wool, and so on, but the differences are endless; the garment should be woven on that day. The teacher makes the pupil stand on the stone to secure firmness, he puts on his new garment and girdle and the sacred cord, and then the skin; the boy is fed and a water libation offered.¹ Then comes the formal taking of the student as a pupil by the teacher, effected by a dialogue of request and acceptance under the auspices of Savitṛ, and with reference to the seer ancestry of teacher and pupil. They both wash. Then follow rites to bring the two into close contact: the teacher takes the pupil by the shoulders and grasps his right hand with suitable formulae, and says to him, ‘On the instigation of Savitṛ, be the pupil of Bṛhaspati: taste water, lay wood on the fire, do thy work, sleep not by day’. Then the teacher touches the pupil’s heart with a magic formula to unite their hearts, touches his navel, then whispers formulae in his ear and prays for wisdom for the child: finally he commends him to the care of gods and demons, or gods only.

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⁵ GGS. ii. 10; AGS. i. 19; ÇGS. ii. 1; PGS. ii. 2; BGS. ii. 5; BhGS. i. 1–10; ApGS. xi; HGS. i. 1; JGS. i. 12, 13; MGS. i. 21 ff.; Glaser, ZDMG. lxvi. 1 ff.

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¹ For the initiation as a rebirth, cf. Hauer, *Die Anfänge der Yogapraxis im alten Indien*, pp. 79 ff.

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The teacher may then or later teach the pupil the Sāvitrī: the two sit opposite to each other, the pupil takes the teacher’s right foot or both feet in his right hand, and begs to be taught the verse: the teacher repeats it by quarter, by half verses, and then as a whole. Different verses are prescribed for the different classes. The pupil then puts kindling wood on the fire for the first time, and the staff is now usually given, after which the teacher receives a gift which may be whatever the pupil can afford, and the pupil pays reverence to the sun. For three days the fire continues to burn, the pupil must eat no salt or spiced food. At the end of three days the Brahmans are fed, and bestow benedictions.

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The first duty of the pupil is to secure wood from the forest, without destroying living trees, for the fire which he tends morning and night: some authorities require also that he should with prayers revere the morning and evening twilights in the woods, wearing the sacred cord and performing the usual ablutions. The making of sectarian marks on the body with ashes from the fire is not recognized in any save an interpolated text.² In the second place, he must beg food for his teacher and himself, in the first instance from his mother or other friends: twice a day this is done, and two meals, one after the first expedition and one after sunset, are prescribed. Thirdly, he must sleep on the ground, and he is also enjoined to eat no spiced or salt food, to avoid resorting to women, not to sit on a high seat, &c. He is, fourthly, to be obedient to his teacher, to rise when he is spoken to, and answer at once.

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² ÇGS. ii. 10. 1.

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The mode of study was simple: the two sat down north of the fire, the teacher as usual facing east, the pupil west, and the teacher at the request of the pupil recited the verse he was to learn, giving the seer, deity, and metre of each: in the case of the Rigveda the pupil might learn all the hymns of each seer, or of each of the eighty-five Anuvākas, or so much as the teacher wished to teach him, or the first and last hymns of each seer or Anuvāka, or a verse at the beginning of each hymn. Doubtless there were differences in the extent of the teaching, according to the desire of the pupil and his caste: explanations of the texts and of the rites which they were to accompany must clearly have been given. At the end of each lesson Kuça grass balls were taken by the teacher, a pit of cow dung made at their roots, and water poured on. A mistake on the part of the pupil required for atonement a twenty-four hours’ fast at least.

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During his period of studentship the pupil may have several vows¹ to perform, each of which requires an initiation ceremony, and at the end the removal of the initiation. They are the Çukriya vow, which precedes the study of the Rigveda, the Çākvara before that of the Mahānāmnī verses, the Vrātika before the Mahāvrata, and the Aupaniṣada before the Upaniṣads. The first may last from three days to a year, the last three each a year. The last three cannot be undertaken until the Rigveda has been completely studied: they contain the secret texts. For them a preparation is necessary of three days or a night only: the teacher envelopes the head of the pupil in a garment,² and bids him, while ceasing to observe the rule of laying wood on the fire, begging, &c., to spend the time in a wood, or temple,² or place where the Agnihotra is offered: the teacher himself abstains from flesh and sexual intercourse, and then at the end of the period of probation instructs him in the forest in the secret texts, the pupil wearing a turban: in the case of the Mahānāmnī verses the instruction is as usual; in the other cases the pupil listens only. He gives the teacher as fees a turban, a vessel, and a cow. Other vows are prescribed for learners of the Jyeṣṭha Sāman, who must not eat bird flesh, and must avoid contact with Çūdra women. The Çakvarī vow must have been popular, as a mother is represented as wishing for her infant that he may perform it. The three verses of the Stotra which make up the Sāman are revealed at the end of the three portions of the vow. The pupil must fast, and shut his eyes to receive them, a clear reference to their dazzling power.

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¹ GGS. iii. 1, 2; ÇGS. ii. 11, 12; JGS. i. 16–18; MGS. i. 23 ff.; BhGS. iii. 4, 5; BGS. iii. 2; Oldenberg, *Ind. Stud.* xv. 139, 140. Cf. VārGS. vi.

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² Cf. the covering of the head of the Grāvastut priest in the Soma sacrifice.

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The beginning of each term of study is marked by a festival under the Nakṣatra Hasta or Çravaṇa, but there are traces of different openings of the year; roughly the rainy season may be said to have been the popular time, when other forms of activity were hampered. The ceremony was performed by means of offerings of grains with ghee and milk, and with the repetition of either the whole of the Rigveda or the first verses of sections and many offerings: the deities vary from each Veda, and it is only of interest to note that they include abstractions such as Medhā, ‘intelligence’, Dhāraṇā, ‘fixing in memory’, Çraddhā, Anumati, ‘favour’, and Sadasaspati and other deities: the divisions of the texts were sometimes ascribed to deities, and the seers are duly honoured. The ceremony was followed by three days’ break of study, and similarly a break occurred at the end: breaks are also prescribed after the Aṣṭakās, when offerings were made to the Fathers, and on many other days, full- or new-moon days, while deaths and other things such as Çrāddhas, the sight of unholy persons, dogs, asses, or jackals, the noise of a Sāman, the cries in distress of men and so forth, prevent learning; the aim of the Sūtras seems to have been to interrupt study as often as possible. Thunder, lightning, rain, earthquakes, meteors, and other prodigies more reasonably interrupt study.¹

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³ The Upākaraṇa; GGS. iii. 3; AGS. iv. 5; ÇGS. iv. 5; BhGS. iii. 8–11; MGS. i. 4. 1–5; PGS. ii. 10; HGS. ii. 18; Bühler, *Ind. Ant.* xxiii. 238 ff., whose conclusions as to the antiquity of Vedic practices are not to be accepted (above, Part I, Chap. 1).

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¹ ÇGS. iv. 7 gives many cases; AGS. iv. 4. 17 ff.; GGS. iii. 3. 24 ff.; PGS. ii. 11. 7 ff.; MGS. i. 4. 6.

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The term comes to an end in Māgha or Taiṣa, after from 5½ to 6½ or occasionally even only four months’ duration: it is marked by the Utsarga,² ‘dismissal’ festival, where offerings are made to gods, seers, &c., and a bath is taken by teacher and pupils, of whom the number to be taken by any one teacher is in no wise limited. After this an old rite of offering to the Fathers is described by Hiraṇyakeçin in full detail. Even, however, after this Utsarga, which normally brought work to an end for the year, some might resume their studies and continue working throughout the year. The total length of the study might extend to forty-eight years, or twelve for each Veda, or such time as was necessary to learn each: clearly the matter was not in the slightest degree fixed. The end of the period of learning is marked by the final bath,³ which is best taken when the student has completed his instruction and performed all his vows, but may be taken if either is complete. With the bath, the exact time for which is variously stated, are combined shaving, hair cutting, nail paring, and teeth washing. The hair is thrown away in a cow stall, beside an Udumbara or Darbha grass. The whole of the pupil’s outfit is cast into the water, and the Snātaka, ‘one who has bathed’, puts on a new suit, shoes, sunshade, staff, garland, powder, salve for hands and lips, eye-salve and turban, and the teacher does likewise; or the teacher alone can adopt this gay clothing. The student has also ear-rings and a mirror. All day he must keep from the sunlight and remain silent till the stars appear: then he goes east or north, pays reverence to the quarters, and to the stars and the moon, converses with his friends and goes to where he expects to receive the Argha gift, which is appropriate for a Snātaka immediately after the bath. For the first days after his completion of his study, he should eat no flesh, not drink from a clay vessel, neither speak to nor see women, Çūdras, corpses, cows, dogs, &c.¹ By gleaning ears of corn, by gifts given without asking, or begged from the pious, or by assisting in sacrifices he may live, but the last mode of livelihood is the worst.² He is also forbidden to look in a well, and many other taboos are imposed on him; on the other hand he is also not to speak of what he has not seen or heard as if he had, to avoid whatever hinders study, and to guard himself like a vessel of oil.³ Curious is the rule that he is to avoid mentioning undesirable things, which are more or less taboo to him, by their own names; a pregnant woman he is to call ‘without children’; a Nakula, ‘ichneumon’, Sakula; a Kapāla, ‘skull’, Bhagāla; and so on.⁴

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² GGS. iii. 3. 14; ÇGS. iv. 6; AGS. iii. 5; PGS. ii. 12; MGS. i. 4. 7–9; HGS. ii. 18. 8; BGS. ii. 6; JGS. i. 19.

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³ GGS. iii. 5. 21 ff.; PGS. ii. 5. 31.

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¹ PGS. ii. 8.

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² ÇGS. iv. 11, 13.

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³ GGS. iii. 5. 24.

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⁴ GGS. iii. 5. 20; cf. Frazer, *Taboo*, pp. 392–418.

§ 5. Marriage

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The duty of the Vedic Indian to marry is assumed by all the texts, and the domestic ritual gives precise rules for the performance of the legitimate and honourable form of marriage,⁵ ignoring as a rule the irregular forms based upon capture, violence, or mere mutual love without parental approval, which are recognized by the law books in various forms, Gāndharva, Āsura, Paiçāca, and Rākṣasa, as well as the romantic form of nominal self-choice by the bride of a suitor, the Svayaṁvara which bears traces of a test of skill of suitors by the king or other parent of high rank similar to that of Kleisthenes. The youth should obtain permission from his parents or his teacher to marry: only one Sūtra⁶ prescribes the numbers of brides, three for the Brahman, two for the Kṣatriya, and one for the Vaiçya, and in one view a Çūdra for each: this refers clearly to a rule by which each caste could have a wife of its own and one of each inferior caste. The later texts prescribe that the maiden must be of the same caste and land, but not of the same Gotra as the father or a *sapiṇḍā* on the mother’s side, rules which are difficult to define with precision.⁷ Maidens with names of stars, rivers, or trees are to be avoided, as are those with names with *r* or *l* as the penultimate consonant. The physical marks are most important, but, as it is difficult to be sure of them, the maiden may be given eight or nine lumps of earth chosen from different places, and, as she choses, her disposition can be gauged.⁸ The bridegroom should be of good family and character, have good bodily signs, be healthy and learned. As considerations in marriage family ranks above intelligence, beauty, and wealth.⁹

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