I, 14

KANDIKÂ 14.

1. Now the Pumsavana (i.e. the ceremony to secure the birth of a male child),

2. Before (the child in his mother's womb) moves, in the second or third month (of pregnancy).

3 3. On a day on which the moon stands in conjunction with a Nakshatra (that has a name) of masculine gender, on that day, after having caused (his wife) to fast, to bathe, and to put on two garments which have not yet been washed, and after having in the night-time crushed in water descending roots and shoots of a Nyagrodha tree, he inserts (that into her right nostril) as above, with the two (verses),

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[paragraph continues] 'The gold-child' (Vâg. Samh. XIII, 4) and 'Formed of water' (ibid. XXXI, 17);

4 14_4. A Kusa needle and a Soma stalk, according to some (teachers).

5 5. And he puts gall of a tortoise on her lap.

If he desires; 'May (the son) become valiant,' he recites over him (i.e. over the embryo), modifying the rite (?), 'The Suparna art thou' (Vâg. Samh. XII, 4), (the Yagus) before (the formulas called) 'steps of Vishnu.'

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