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


KANDIKÂ 9.

1. Now the letting loose of the bull.

2. (The ceremony) has been declared in the cow-sacrifice.

3. (It is performed) on the full-moon day of Kârttika, or on the (day on which the moon stands in conjunction with) Revatî in the Âsvayuga month.

4. Having set a fire in a blaze in the midst of the

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cows, and having prepared Âgya, he sacrifices six (oblations) with (the Mantras), 'Here is delight' (Vâg. Samh. VIII, 51).

5. With (the verses), 'May Pûshan go after our cows; may Pûshan watch over our horses; may Pûshan give us strength'—he sacrifices of (the sacrificial food) destined for Pûshan.

6. After murmuring the Rudra hymns they adorn a one-coloured or a two-coloured (bull) who protects the herd or whom the herd protects. Or it should be red, deficient in no limb, the calf of a cow that has living calves and is a milk-giver; and it should be the finest (bull) in the herd. And besides they should adorn the best four young cows of the herd and let them loose with this (verse), 'This young (bull) I give you as your husband; run about sporting with him, your lover. Do not bring down a curse upon us, by nature blessed ones. May we rejoice in increase of wealth and in comfort.'

7. When (the bull) stands in the midst of the cows, he recites over it (the texts beginning with) 'Bringing refreshment,' down to the end of the Anuvâka (Vâg. Samh. XVIII, 45-50).

8. With the milk of all (the cows) he should cook milk-rice and give it to the Brâhmanas to eat.

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9_9. Some also sacrifice an animal.

10 9_10. The ritual thereof has been declared by the (ritual for the) spit-ox.


Footnotes

353:1 9, 1 seqq. Comp. Sâṅkhâyana III, 11.

353:2 See above, chap. 8, 15.

353:3 Sâṅkhâyana, loc. cit. § 2.

353:4 Sâṅkhâyana, § 3. Of course, in Professor Stenzler's translation, 'in der Mitte der Küche' is a misprint for 'in der Mitte der Kühe.'

354:5 Rig-veda VI, 54, 5; Sâṅkhâyana, § 5.

354:6 Sâṅkhâyana, §§ 6-54. On the Rudra hymns, see above, chap. 8, § 13. Perhaps the words mâ nah sâpta are corrupt; the correct reading may possibly be, mâvasthâta.

354:7 Sâṅkhâyana, § 15. There is no Mantra in the Vâgasaneyi Samhitâ beginning with the word mayobhûh, but this word occurs in the middle of XVIII, 45 a; the texts which he recites begin at that word and extend down to the end of the Anuvâka. It is clear that mayobhûh was intended in the original text, from which both Sâṅkhâyana and Pâraskara have taken this Sûtra, as the Rik-Pratika, Rig-veda X, 169, 1.

355:9_9 According to the commentators, a goat is sacrificed.

355:9_10 See chap. 8.


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