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 III, Khaṇḍa 12
1[1]. After the Āgrahāyaṇī (or the full moon day of the month Mārgaśīrṣa) (follow) the three Aṣṭakās in the second fortnight (of the Mārgaśīrṣa and of the two following months).
2. At the first of these he sacrifices vegetables,
3[2]. With (the verse), 'She who shone forth first is this (earth); she walks, having entered into this (earth). The wife has brought forth (children), the new-creating mother. May the three powers follow her. Svāhā!'
4. Now (the oblation for Agni) Sviṣṭakṛt,
5[3]. With (the verses), 'She in whom Yama, the son of Vivasvat, and all gods are contained, the Aṣṭakā whose face is turned to all sides, she has satiated my desires.
'They call thy teeth "the pressing-stones;" thy udder is (Soma) Pavamāna; . . . . are the months and half-months. Adoration to thee, O glad-faced one! Svāhā!'
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
12, 1. On the Aṣṭakā festivals, of which some texts reckon three, while others have four, comp. Weber, Naxatra (second article), pp. 337, 341 seq.; Bühler, S.B.E., II, p. 214; Ludwig, Rig-veda, vol. iv, pp. 424 seq.; Atharva-veda III, 10. The last Aṣṭakā, which is celebrated in the dark fortnight of Māgha, is called Ekāṣṭakā; this Aṣṭakā is called the 'wife of the year,' 'the image of the year,' 'the disposer of the days.' If the Phālguna month is reckoned as the first of the year, this Aṣṭakā precedes the year's beginning only by a few days; there are also some Vedic passages which point to the Ekāṣṭakā's following shortly after the beginning of the year; see Weber, loc. cit., p. 342.
[2]:
Instead of navakṛt the parallel texts (except the Mantrabrāhmaṇa II, 2, 12) have navagat, which is explained by nūtanavivāhavatī (Ludwig, loc. cit.); the 'three powers' are understood by Mādhava (in the commentary on Taitt. Saṃh. IV, 3, 11) as Agni, Sūrya, and Candra.
[3]:
After pavamānaḥ there is evidently a word wanting that p. 103 indicated the limb of the Aṣṭakā's body identified with the months and half-months.