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The Grihya Sutras, Part 2 (SBE30), by Hermann Oldenberg, [1892], at sacred-texts.com
If the guhû has been elsewhere employed, let it be done with a ladle (sruva).
Commentary.
The guhû is a sruk, a spoon, the sruva, a ladle.
The offering is made in the Âhavanîya fire.
The sacrificial vessels are kept from the first laying of the fires (âdhâna) for the whole life.
Commentary.
All sacrificial vessels and instruments are to be kept, and most of them are burnt with the sacrificer at his death.
At every sacrifice these vessels are to be purified.
The rule for the sacrifice are the Mantras and Brâhmanas.
The name Veda belongs both to the Mantras and Brâhmanas.
The Brâhmanas are the precepts for the sacrifice.
The rest of the Brâhmana, that which does not contain precepts, consists of explanations, i.e. reproof, praise, stories, and traditions.
Commentary.
It is difficult to find words corresponding to technical terms in Sanskrit. Arthavâda, which I have translated by explanation, means not only the telling of the meaning, but likewise the telling of the object; parakriti, story, means literally the action of another; purâkalpa, traditions, means the former state. The difference between the two is stated to be that parakriti refers to the act of one person, purâkalpa to that of several. This subject is fully treated in the Pûrva-mîmâmsâ. Satyavrata begins a new Sûtra with 'reproof' (nindâ).
All the rest are Mantras.
But passages which are not handed down, are not to be classed as Mantras, as, for instance, the pravara, the words used in choosing priests, divine or human; ûha, substitution of one word for another; and nâmadheya-grahana, the mentioning of the names of particular sacrificers.
Commentary.
The reason why such passages are not to be treated as Mantras is that they should not be subject to some of the preceding rules, as, for instance, the murmuring, enjoined in Sûtra IX. Those passages naturally vary in each sacrifice. With regard to the names a distinction is made
between the gârhyam nâma, the domestic name of a person, such as Yagñasarman, and the astrological name, such as Rauhina, derived from the star Rohinî.
Likewise the sound of a carriage and the sound of a drum.
Commentary.
These sounds, though serving for the sacrifice, are not to be considered as liable to the rules given for the recitation of Mantras.
The prohibition of reciting Mantras in the Svâdhyâya does not apply to the sacrifice, because there is then a different object.
Commentary.
Svâdhyâya, i.e. self-reading, is the name given to the study of the Veda, both in first learning and in afterwards repeating it. This study is under several restrictions, but these restrictions cease when the Veda is used for sacrificial purposes.
Sacrificial acts are accompanied by one Mantra.
Commentary.
If it is said that the priest cuts the plants with fourteen verses, that means that there are fourteen plants to be cut and that one verse is used for each plant.
This applies also to sacrificial acts which have a number and are to be carried out by separate (repeated) acts.
Commentary.
If a rule is given, such as trih prokshati, he sprinkles thrice, the mantra which accompanies the act, is recited once only. Again in the case of acts that require repetitions, such as rubbing, pounding, &c., the hymns are recited once only.
The same applies to rubbing, sleeping, crossing a river, down-pours of rain, the conjuring of unlucky omens, unless they happened some time ago.
Commentary.
If several members of the body are to be rubbed, the verses required for the purpose are recited once only. A prayer is enjoined if one wakes during the night. If one wakes more than once that prayer is. not to be repeated. In crossing a river the necessary verse is not to be repeated at every wave, nor during a down-pour, at every drop of rain. If some unlucky sight has to be conjured, the conjuring verse is spoken once and not repeated, unless some time has elapsed and a new unlucky sight presents itself.
In case of a journey, however, one hymn is used till the object (of the journey) has been accomplished.
Commentary.
I read prayâne tu-â-arthanirvritteh. Another reading is arthanivrittih.
It is the same also with regard to acts which do not produce an immediate effect.
Commentary.
The commentators distinguish between acts which
produce a visible effect, such as pounding or sprinkling, and acts which do not, such as addressing, approaching, looking. The latter are called asamnipâtin. Thus when the stones used for the preparation of Soma are addressed, the hymn which is used for addressing them, is not repeated for each single stone, the same as in Sûtra XL. Sûtras XLI and XLII are sometimes joined.
Repetition takes place in the case of the Havishkrit, Adhrigu, Puronuvâkyâ, and Manotâ hymns, (because they have to be used) at different times.
Commentary.
Havishkrit-adhrigu-puronuvâkyâ-manotam is to be taken as a Dvandva compound.
The Havishkrit hymn is an invocation when the havis is made. The Adhrigu hymn is 'Daivyâh samitârah,' &c. The Puronuvâkyâ hymn is that which precedes the Yâgyâ, immediately after the Sampraisha. The Manotâ hymn is 'Tvam hy agne prathamo manotâ,' &c. These hymns are to be repeated, if the act which they accompany has to be repeated after a certain interval.
When it is expressly stated, one sacrificial act may be accompanied by many hymns.
Commentary.
Thus we read, 'He takes the Abhri, the hoe, with four Mantras.'
One ought to let the beginnings of a sacrificial act coincide with the end of the Mantras.
Commentary.
The mantra which indicates the nature and purpose of a sacrificial act should come first, and as soon as it has been finished the act should follow. See Katy. I, 3, 5.
In the case of the âghâra, sprinkling of clarified butter, and of dhârâ, pouring out of Soma, the beginning of the mantra and the act takes place at the same time.
Mantras are indicated by their first words.
Commentary.
These first words are often called Pratîkas, and rules are given in Âsvalâyana's Srauta-sûtras I, 1, 17-19, as to the number of words that should form such a pratîka, if it is meant for one verse, for three verses, or for a whole hymn. According to Âsvalâyana, if one foot is quoted, it is meant for a verse; if an imperfect foot of an initial verse is quoted, it is meant for a whole hymn; if more than a foot is quoted, it is meant for three verses.
One should know that with the beginning of a following mantra, the former mantra is finished.
In the case of Hotrâ and Yâgamâna-mantras, an aggregation takes place.
Commentary.
Hotrâs are mantras recited by the Hotri-priest. Yâgamânâs are mantras recited by the sacrificer himself. They are hymns which accompany, but do not enjoin any sacrificial act.
In the case of the Yâgyâs and Anuvâkyâs this (the aggregation) is optional.
Commentary.
The Yâgyâ is explained by prayakkhati yâgyayâ, the Anuvâkyâ by âhvayaty anuvâkyayâ. Sometimes more than one are mentioned, but in that case the priest is free to do as he likes. According to the same principle, when we read that one should sacrifice with rice or with barley, that means that rice should be used after the rice-harvest, barley after the barley-harvest, and not that rice and barley should be used at the same time.