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II PRASNA, I PATALA, 4 SECTION, I.
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of intelligence). With (an instrument of) gold over which he has laid a Darbha shoot tied (to that piece of gold) he gives to the child, which is held so that it faces the east, ghee to eat, with the formulas,
Bhah! I sacrifice the Rikas over thee! Bhuvah! I sacrifice the Yagus over thee! Suvah! I sacrifice the Samans over thee! Bhůr bhuvah suvah ! I sacrifice the Atharvan and Angiras hymns over thee!'
10. He then bathes the child with lukewarm water with (the following Mantras):
From chronic disease, from destruction, from wile, from Varuna's fetter I release thee. I make thee guiltless before the Brahman; may both Heaven and Earth be kind towards thee.
May Agni together with the waters bring thee bliss, Heaven and Earth together with the herbs; may the air together with the wind bring thee bliss; may the four quarters of the heaven bring thee
bliss.
Rightly have the gods released the sun from darkness and from the seizing demon; they have dismissed him from guilt; thus I deliver this boy from chronic disease, from curse that comes from his kin, from wile, from Varuna's fetter.'
11. He then places the child in his mother's lap with (the verse):
Patala 1, SECTION 4.
1. “The four divine quarters of the heaven, the consorts of Wind, whom the sun surveys: to their
10. Comp. Atharva-veda II, 10; Taitt. Brahm. II, 5, 6.
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