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xxvi
GRIHYA-SOTRAS.
which has been already described by Prof. Max Müller almost thirty years ago, and we cannot do better than to give his description: Then (i.e. after the marriage) follow the Samskaras, the rites to be performed at the conception of a child, at various periods before his birth, at the time of his birth, the ceremony of naming the child, of carrying him out to see the sun, of feeding him, of cutting his hair, and lastly of investing him as a student, and handing him to a Guru, under whose care he is to study the sacred writings, that is to say, to learn them by heart, and to perform all the offices of a Brahmakârin, or religious student.'
In this way we find, as a rule, in the foreground in the first part of the Grihya-sůtras this great group of acts which accompany the domestic life from marriage to the studentship and the Samåvartana of the child sprung from wedlock. We find, however, inserted into the description of these ceremonies, in various ways in the different Satras, the exposition of a few ritualistic matters which we have not yet mentioned. In the first place a description of the setting up of the sacred domestic fire, i. e. of the ceremony which in the domain of the Grihya ritual corresponds to the agnyâdheya of the Srauta ritual. The setting up of the fire forms the necessary preliminary to all sacred acts; the regular time for it is the wedding, so that the fire used for the wedding acts accompanies the young couple to their home, and there forms the centre of their household worship. Accordingly in the Grihya-stras the description of the setting up of the fire stands, as a rule, at the beginning of the whole, not far from the description of the wedding.
Next the introductory sections of the Grihya-sútras have to describe the type of the Grihya sacrifice, which is universally available and recurs at all household ceremonies. This can be done in such a way that this type is described for itself, without direct reference to a particular sacrifice. This is the case in Paraskara, who in the first chapter of his
· History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, p. 204.
See, for instance, Paraskara I, 2, 1: &vasathyâdhanam dârakâle.
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