Sankhayana-grihya-sutra

by Hermann Oldenberg | 1886 | 37,785 words

The Grihya-sutra ascribed to Shankhayana, which has been edited and translated into German in the XVth volume of the "Indische Studien", is based on the first of the four Vedas, the Rig-veda in the Bashkala recension, and among the Brahmana texts, on the Kaushitaka. Alternative titles: Śāṅkhāyana-gṛhya-sūtra (शाङ्खायन-गृह्य-सूत्र), Shank...

Adhyāya I, Khaṇḍa 17

1. With the verse, 'I praised Dadhikrāvan' (Rig-veda IV, 39, 6), let them drink together curds.

2[1]. Let them sit silent, when the sun has set, until the polar-star appears.

3. He shows her the polar-star with the words, 'Firm be thou, thriving with me!'

4. Let her say, 'I see the polar-star; may I obtain offspring.'

5. Through a period of three nights let them refrain from conjugal intercourse.

6. Let them sleep on the ground.

7. Let them eat together boiled rice with curds, with the three verses, 'Drink and satiate yourselves' (Rig-veda VIII, 35, 10).

8. Let them serve the nuptial fire in the evening and in the morning with the words, 'To Agni svāhā! To Agni Sviṣṭakṛt svāhā!'

9. 'Let the two men Mitra and Varuṇa, let the two men, the Aśvins both, let the man Indra and also Agni make a man grow in me. Svāhā!'—with (these words she offers) the first oblation if she is desirous of pregnancy.

10. For ten days they are not to set out (from home).

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

17, 2, 3. I have changed in the translation the division of these Sūtras; the native authorities divide after dhruvadarśanāt, while I propose to divide after astamite.

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