Grihya Sutras

SR No.: 007685
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Hermann Oldenberg
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1886
Total Pages: 2642
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 49 MB

Page 855

SUTRAS III, IV.
317
a Karani the daughter of a Vaisya and a Sûdrâ. Sudhanvan also is used in Manu, X, 23, as the name of a caste, namely the offspring of fallen (vrâtya) Vaisyas.
Another exception is made in favour of a Nishâdasthapati, a Nishâda chieftain. If it meant a chieftain of Nishâdas, it might be meant for a Kshatriya who happens to be a chieftain of Nishâdas. Here it is meant for a chieftain who is himself a Nishâda, a native settler. He is admitted to the Gaved huka sacrifice.
Again, although, as a rule, the sacrificer must have finished his study of the Veda and be married, a sacrifice is mentioned which a Brahmakârin, a student, may perform. The case thus provided for is, yo brahmakârî striyam upeyât, sa gardabham pasum âlabheta. As these sacrificers are not upanîta, and therefore without the sacred fires, their sacrifices have to be performed with ordinary fires, and the sacrificial offerings, the purodâsas, are not cooked in kapâlas, jars, but on the earth, while the avadânas (cuttings), heart, tongue, &c., are sacrificed in water, and not in fire. The Nishâda chieftain has to learn the necessary Vedic verses by heart, without having passed through a regular course of Vedic study. The same applies to women, who have to recite certain verses during the sacrifice.
That certain women are admitted to the sacrifice, is distinctly stated by Kâtyâyana, I, 1, 7, strî kâviseshât.
SUTRA III.
The sacrifice is prescribed by the three Vedas. Commentary.
In order to know the whole of the sacrifice, one Veda is not sufficient, still less one sâkhâ (recension) only. The sacrifice is conceived as a whole, and its members (angas) are described in different parts of the three Vedas.
SUTRA IV.
By the Rig-veda, the Yagur-veda, the Sâmaveda (is the sacrifice prescribed).
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