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1. (The recitation of the Veda shall be interrupted for a day and evening if he has eaten), on beginning a fresh Kânda (of his Veda), food given by a motherless person, 1
2. And also if he has eaten, on the day of the completion of a Kânda, food given by a fatherless person.
3. Some declare, that (the recitation shall be interrupted for the same space of time), if he has eaten at a sacrifice offered in honour of gods who were formerly men. 3
4. Nor is the recitation interrupted, if he has eaten rice received the day before, or raw meat (though these things may have been offered in honour of the dead), 4
5. Nor (if he has eaten at a funeral dinner) roots or fruits of herbs and trees.
6. When he performs the ceremony for beginning of a Kânda, or when he studies the index of the Anuvâkas 6
of a (Kânda), he shall not study that (Kânda) on that day (nor in that night).
7. And if he performs the ceremonies prescribed on beginning or ending the recitation of one entire Veda, he shall not study that Veda (during that day). 7
8. If the wind roars, or if it whirls up the grass on the ground, or if it drives the rain-drops forward during a rain-shower, (then the recitation shall be interrupted for so long a time as the storm lasts). 8
9. (Nor shall he study) on the boundary between a village and forest,
10. Nor on a highway.
11. If (some of his) fellow-students are on a journey, he shall not study during that day, (the passage) which they learn together. 11
12. And whilst performing acts for his pleasure,
13. Such as washing his feet, shampooing or anointing himself,
14. He shall neither study nor teach, as long as he is thus occupied.
15. (He shall not study or teach) in the twilight, 15
16. Nor whilst sitting on a tree, 16
17. Nor whilst immersed in water,
18. Nor at night with open doors,
19. Nor in the day-time with shut doors.
20. During the spring festival and the festival (of Indra), in the month of Âshâdha (June-July), the study of an Anuvâka is forbidden. 20
21. (The recitation) of the daily portion of the Veda (at the Brahmayagña is likewise forbidden if done) in a manner differing from the rule (of the Veda). 21
22. (Now follows) the rule (for the daily recitation) of that (Brahmayagña).
23. Before taking his morning-meal, he shall go to the water-side, and having purified himself, he shall recite aloud (a portion of the Veda) in a pure 23
place, leaving out according to (the order of the) texts (what he has read the day before).
24. If a stoppage of study is enjoined (for the day, he shall recite the daily portion) mentally.
25. If lightning flashes without interruption, or, thunder rolls continually, if a man has neglected to purify himself, if he has partaken of a meal in honour of a dead person, or if hoarfrost lies on the ground, (in these cases) they forbid the mental recitation (of the daily portion of the Veda). 25
26. Some forbid it only in case one has eaten a funeral dinner. 26
27. Where lightning, thunder, and rain happen together out of season, the recitation shall be interrupted for three days. 27
28. Some (declare, that the recitation shall stop) until the ground is dry.
29. If one or two (of the phenomena mentioned in Sûtra 27 appear, the recitation shall be interrupted) from that hour until the same hour next day.
30. In the case of an eclipse of the sun or of the moon, of an earthquake, of a whirlwind, of the fall of a meteor, or of a fire (in the village), at whatever time these events happen, the recitation of all the sacred sciences (Vedas and Aṅgas) must be interrupted from that hour until the same hour next day. 30
31. If a cloud appears out of season, if the sun or the moon is surrounded by a halo, if a rainbow, a parhelion or a comet appears, if a (high) wind (blows), 31
a foul smell (is observed), or hoarfrost (lies on the ground, at all these occasions (the recitation of all the sacred sciences must be interrupted) during the duration (of these phenomena).
32. After the wind has ceased, (the interruption of the recitation continues) for one muhûrta. 32
33. If (the howl of) a wolf or of a solitary jackal (has been heard, he shall stop the reading) until he has slept.
34. At night (he shall not study) in a wood, where there is no fire nor gold.
35. Out of term he shall not study any part of the Veda which he has not learnt before.
36. Nor (shall he study during term some new part of the Veda) in the evening. 36
37. That which has been studied before, must never be studied (during the vacation or in the evening). 37
38. Further particulars (regarding the interruption 38
of the Veda-study may be learnt) from the (teaching and works of other) Vedic schools.
40:1 11. The Black Yagur-veda, to which Âpastamba belongs, is divided throughout into books called Kândas.
40:3 Haradatta names as such gods, Nandîsvara and Kubera. Other commentators, however, explain Manushyaprakriti by Manushyamukha, 'possessing human faces.' A similar rule occurs Gautama XVI, 34, Where a Manushyayagña is mentioned as a cause for discontinuing the recitation of the Veda. In his Commentary on Gautama, also, Haradatta is in doubt. He first refers the term to the sacraments like the Sîmantonnayana, and then adds, that some explain it to mean 'a sacrifice to gods who formerly were men.'
40:4 This Sûtra is an exception to I, 3, 10, 28.
40:6 Haradatta's commentary on this Sûtra is very meagre, and he leaves the word anuvâkyam unexplained. I am not ccrtain that my explanation is correct. But it is countenanced by the statements of the Grihya-sutras regarding the order of studying. Weber, Ind. Stud. X, 132.
41:7 Yâgñ. I, 145. This Sûtra is a Gñâpaka or 'such a one which indicates the existence of a rule not expressly mentioned! Above (I, 3, 9, 1) the yearly -performance of the Upâkarma and Utsarga ceremonies for the beginning and end of the Brahmanic term has been prescribed. In this Sûtra the performance of the Upakarma and Utsarga at the beginning and completion of the Pârâyana or the vow to go through a whole Veda is incidentally mentioned. Thence it may be inferred that these ceremonies must. be likewise performed on the latter occasions, though no absolute rule to this effect has been given. Such Gñâpakas are of frequent occurrence in all Sûtras, and constitute one of the chief difficulties of their interpretation.
41:8 Yâgñ. I, 149; Manu IV, 102, 122.
41:11 Others explain the Sûtra thus: 'If he meets fellow-students, after they have come home from a journey, he shall not study with them on that day.'
42:15 Yâgñ. I, 145; Manu IV, 113.
42:16 Yâgñ. I, 51; Manu IV, 120.
42:20 According to Haradatta, Âpastamba uses the word Anuvâka in order to indicate that smaller portions of the Veda may be studied. Others think, that by Anuvâka, the Samhitâ and the Brâhmana are meant, and that the study of the Aṅgas is permitted. The Vasantotsava, or spring festival, which, according to the Dramas, was, in olden times, kept all over India, falls, according to Haradatta, on the thirteenth of the first half of Kaitra, about the beginning of April.
42:21 'Hence, if one has forgotten it and eaten one's breakfast, a penance, not the Brahmayagña, must be performed'--Haradatta.
42:23 See Taittirîya Âranyaka II, 11, 1 and 11; Âsv. Gri. Sû. III, 2, 1-2. In our days this rule is usually not observed. Brâhmanas mostly recite at the daily Brahmayagña, 'Veda-offering,' one particular formula, which symbolically comprises the whole Veda. A few learned Brâhmana friends, however, have assured me, that they still recite the whole of their Sâkhâ every year according to this rule of Âpastamba.
43:25 Yâgñ. I, 149; Manu IV, 106, 120, 127; Taitt. Âr. II, 15, 1.
43:26 Manu IV, 109, 116.
43:27 Manu IV, 103 and 104.
43:30 Yâgñ. I, 145; Manu IV, 105, 118.
43:31 Manu IV, 104, and see above.
44:32 One muhûrta = 48 minutes.
44:36 Other commentators interpret the Sûtra in a different sense. They take it to mean: 'And (luring the night (from the twelfth to the thirteenth of each half of the month, he shall not study at all, be it in or out of term).'
44:37 'What has been studied before, must not be studied (again) at any time in the vacation nor in the evening.'-- Haradatta.
44:38 Haradatta thinks that by 'Parishad,' Manu's and other Dharma-sâstras are meant. This explanation is, however, not exact. Parishad, 'assemblage,' means, in the language of the Sâstras, either a Pañk, an assemblage of learned Brahmans called together to decide some knotty point of law, or a Brahminical school, which studies a particular redaction of the Veda (see the Petersburg Dict. s. v.) The latter meaning is that applicable to this Sûtra. By 'Parishadah' are here intended the Vedic schools, and their writings and teaching. Gautama also says, XVI, 40. Prâtividyam yân smaranti smaranti, '(he shall observe the stoppages of the Veda-study) which they teach in (the writings belonging to) each of the Vedas.'