Sacred Texts Hinduism Index Previous Next
Buy this Book at Amazon.com
The Grihya Sutras, Part 2 (SBE30), by Hermann Oldenberg, [1892], at sacred-texts.com
1. 1 A student, after he has studied the Veda,
2. And has offered a present to his Guru (i.e. to his) teacher,
3. 3 Should, with the permission (of his parents), take a wife,
4. One who does not belong to the same Gotra,
5. 5 And who is not a Sapinda relation of his mother.
6. 6 The best, however, is a 'naked' girl.
7. 7 Now the bath (which is taken at the end of studentship, will be described).
8. To the north or the east of the teacher's house there is an enclosure.
9. There the teacher sits down, facing the north, on eastward-pointed Darbha grass;
10. Facing the east the student on northward-pointed Darbha grass.
11. The teacher should besprinkle (him) with lukewarm, scented water, which has been boiled with all kinds of herbs.
12. But as if he (i.e. the student, should do so) himself—
13. 13 (In such a way) he is alluded to in the Mantras; (therefore the besprinkling should be done rather by the student, and not by the teacher [?]).
14. With (the verse), 'The fires which dwell in the waters' (MB. I, 7, 1)—(the student[?]) pours his joined hands full of water (on the ground),
15. And again with (the formula), 'What is dreadful in the waters, what is cruel in the waters, what is turbulent in the waters' (ibid. 2).
16. With (the formula), 'The shining one I take here' (ibid. 3)—he besprinkles himself.
17. And again with (the formula), 'For the sake of glory, of splendour' (ibid. 4).
18. And again with (the verse), 'By which you made the wife (pregnant?') (ibid. 5).
19. A fourth time silently.
20. He then should rise and should worship the sun with the Mantra, 'Rising with (the Maruts) who bear shining spears' (ibid. 6-9), &c.
21. 21 Optionally he may use the single sections of
the Mantra separately (in the morning, at noon, and in the evening) as indicated in the text.
22. He should add (the formula), 'The eye art thou' (ibid. 9) after (each of the three sections of the Mantra, 6-8).
23. With the verse, 'Loosen the highest fetter, O Varuna' (ibid. 10), he takes off the girdle.
24. After he has entertained the Brâhmanas with food and has eaten himself, he should have his hair, his beard, the hair of his body, and his nails cut, so as to leave the lock of hair (as required by the custom of his family).
25. Having bathed and adorned himself, and having put on two garments (an under-garment and an upper-garment) which have not yet been washed, he should put a garland (on his head) with (the formula), 'Luck art thou; take delight in me' (ibid. 11).
26. The two shoes (he puts on) with (the formula), 'Leaders are you; lead me' (ibid. 12).
27. With (the formula), 'The Gandharva art thou' (ibid. 13), he takes a bamboo staff.
28. He approaches the teacher together with the assembly (of his pupils) and looks at the assembly of his teacher's (pupils) with (the words), 'Like an eye-ball may I be dear to you' (ibid. 14).
29. Sitting down near (the teacher) he touches the sense-organs at his head with (the verse), 'The she-ichneumon, covered by the lips' (ibid. 15).
30. Here the teacher should honour him with the Argha ceremony.
31. (The student then) should approach a chariot yoked with oxen, and should touch its two side-pieces or the two arms of the chariot-pole with
[paragraph continues] (the verse), 'O tree, may thy limbs be strong' (ibid. 16).
32. With (the last words of that verse), 'May he who stands on thee, win what can be won'—he mounts it.
33. Having driven (some distance) in an easterly or northerly direction, he turns round from left to right and comes back (to his teacher).
34. 34 When he has come back, the Argha ceremony should be performed (for him by his teacher), say the Kauhalîyas.
82:1 4, 1 seq. The description given in this chapter of the Samâvartana, or of the ceremony performed at the end of studentship, is opened with a few sentences referring to another section of the Grihya ritual, namely, to marriage. It seems to me that these first Sûtras of this chapter once formed, in a text from which Gobhila has taken them, the introduction to an exposition of the wedding ceremonies, and that Gobhila was induced to transfer them to the description of the Samâvartana, by their opening words, 'A student, after he has studied the Veda, &c.' With Sûtras 1-3, comp. Khâdira-Grihya I, 3, 1.
82:3 I prefer to supply, (with the permission) of his parents, and not, of his teacher. Hiranyakesin says, samâvritta âkâryakulât mâtâpitarau bibhriyât, tâbhyâm anugñâto bhâryâm upayakkhet.
82:5 Regarding the term Sapinda, see, for instance, Gautama XIV, 13 (S.B.E. II, 247): 'Sapinda-relationship ceases with the fifth or the seventh (ancestor).' Comp. Manu V, 60.
82:6 According to the Grihya-samgraha (II, 1 7. 18), a 'naked' girl is one who has not yet the monthly period, or whose breast is not yet developed. Comp. Vasishtha XVII, 70; Gautama XVIII, 23.
82:7 7 seqq. Comp. Khâdira-Grihya III, 1, 1 seqq.
83:13 In the Mantras prescribed for the besprinkling of the student (Mantra-Brâhmana I, 7, 1 seq.) there occur passages such as, for instance, 'Therewith I, N.N., besprinkle myself.'
83:21 He may use the first section of the Mantra, which contains the word prâtar, in the morning, &c.
85:34 Instead of its being performed at the time stated in Sûtra 30.