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The Grihya Sutras, Part 1 (SBE29), by Hermann Oldenberg, [1886], at sacred-texts.com


KANDIKÂ 24.

1. When he has chosen the Ritvigas, he should offer the Madhuparka (i.e. honey-mixture) to them (in the way described in Sûtras 5 and following);

2. To a Snâtaka, when he comes to his house;

3. And to a king;

4. And for a teacher, the father-in-law, a paternal uncle, and a maternal uncle.

5. He pours honey into curds,

6. Or butter, if he can get no honey.

7. A seat, the water for washing the feet, the Arghya water (i.e. perfumed water into which flowers have been thrown), the water for sipping, the honey-mixture,

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a cow: every one of these things they announce three times (to the guest).

8. With (the verse), 'I am the highest one among my people, as the sun among the thunderbolts. Here I tread on him whosoever infests me'—he should sit down on the seat (made of) northward-pointed (grass).

9. Or (he should do so) after he has trodden on it.

10. He should make (his host) wash his feet.

11. The right foot he should stretch out first to a Brâhmana,

12. The left to a Sûdra.

13. When his feet have been washed, he receives the Arghya water in the hollow of his joined hands and then sips the water destined thereto, with (the formula), 'Thou art the first layer for Ambrosia.'

14. He looks at the Madhuparka when it is brought to him, with (the formula), 'I look at thee with Mitra's eye.'

15. He accepts it with his joined hands with (the formula), 'By the impulse of the god Sâvitrî, with the arms of the two Asvins, with the hands of Pûshan I accept thee.' He then takes it into his left hand, looks at it with the three verses, 'Honey the winds to the righteous one' (Rig-veda I, 90, 6 seqq.), stirs it about three times from left to right with the fourth finger and the thumb, and wipes (his fingers) with (the formula), 'May the Vasus eat thee with the Gâyatrî metre'—to the east;

16. With (the formula), 'May the Rudras eat thee with the Trishtubh metre'—to the south;

17. With (the formula), 'May the Âdityas eat thee with the Gagatî metre'—to the west;

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18. With (the formula), 'May the Visve devâs eat thee with the Anushtubh metre'—to the north.

19. With (the formula), 'To the beings thee'—he three times takes (some of the Madhuparka substance) out of the middle of it.

20. With (the formula), 'The milk of Virâg art thou'—he should partake thereof the first time,

21. With, 'The milk of Virâg may I obtain'—the second time,

22 22. With, 'In me (may) the milk of Padyâ Virâg (dwell)'—the third time.

23. (He should) not (eat) the whole (Madhuparka).

24. He should not satiate himself.

25. To a Brâhmana, to the north, he should give the remainder.

26. If that cannot be done, (he should throw it) into water.

27. Or (he may eat) the whole (Madhuparka).

28 28. He then makes a rinsing of his mouth follow (on the eating of the Madhuparka) with the water destined thereto, with (the formula), 'Thou art the covering of Ambrosia.'

29. With (the formula), 'Truth! Glory! Fortune! May fortune rest on me!'—a second time.

30. When he has sipped water, they announce to him the cow.

31. Having murmured, 'Destroyed is my sin; my sin is destroyed,' (he says,) 'Om, do it,' if he chooses to have her killed.

32. Having murmured, 'The mother of the Rudras, the daughter of the Vasus' (Rig-veda VIII, 101, 15),

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[paragraph continues] (he says,) 'Om, let her loose,' if he chooses to let her loose.

33 33. Let the Madhuparka not be without flesh, without flesh.

End of the First Adhyâya.


Footnotes

197:1 24, 1 seqq. Comp. Sâṅkhâyana-Grihya II, 15. The second Sûtra is paraphrased by Nârâyana thus, 'To a person that has performed the Samâvartana (see below, III, 8), when he comes on that day to his house with the intention of forming a matrimonial alliance.'

199:22 On Padyâ Virâg, see the note on Sâṅkhâyana-Grihya III, 7, 5.

199:28 Comp. above, Sûtra 13.

200:33 Comp. Sâṅkhâyana-Grihya II, 15, 2.


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