Grihya Sutras

Author(s): Hermann Oldenberg
Publisher: Oxford

Page 33

I ADHYÂYA, 7 KHANDA, 11.
23
4. The northern one, if the rites belong to the gods,
5. Or rather the east (itself) according to some (teachers).
6. He draws in the middle of the sacrificial ground) a line from south to north,
7. Upwards from this, turned upwards, to the south one line, in the middle one, to the north one.
8. These he sprinkles (with water),
9. Carries forward the fire with the verse, I carry forward Agni with genial mind; may he be the assembler of goods. Do no harm to us, to the old nor to the young; be a saviour to us, to men and animals,'
10. Or (he carries it forward) silently,
II. Then he wipes with his wet hand three times around the fire, turning his right side to it. This they call SaMÜHANA (sweeping together).
prescribed in the Sætra, “Let him make oblations every month to the Fathers" (IV, 1, 1).... He states an exception to the rule, “The ceremonies sacred to the gods are directed towards the east" (Sraut. I, 1, 13).... The northern of the two eastern intermediate directions, sacred to Isâna, should be considered as that to which the ceremonies sacred to the gods, such as oblations, &c., are to be directed.'-Comp. Asvalâyana-Sraut. I, 12, 4.
6-7. See the quotations from Ramakandra's and Narayana's commentaries, p. 123 of the German edition. An illustration of the form of the sthandila with the lines drawn thereon is given by Dr. Bloomfield in his note on the Grihya-samgraha-parisishta I, 52 seq.; instead of the three lines, however, which are here prescribed in Sätra 7, there are four indicated in accordance with the doctrine of that Parisishta and of Gobhila himself, which are stated to be sacred to Prithivî, Pragâ pati, Indra, and Soma, while the line turned from south to north is sacred to Agni.
9. On the Agnipranayana (carrying forward of the fire) see the Gribya-samgraha-parisishta I, 64-69.
Digitized by Google