The Grihya Sutras, Part 1 (SBE29), by Hermann Oldenberg, [1886], at sacred-texts.com
1 1. Now henceforth we shall declare the Pâkayagñas.
2 2. When (a pupil) is going to return (from his teacher), let him keep that fire (as his domestic fire) on which he has put the last piece of wood (as required by the regulations for a student),
3. Or (he should keep) his nuptial fire.
4. Some declare (that the domestic fire should be kindled) at the time of the division of the inheritance.
5 5. Or that after the death of the householder the eldest one himself (should kindle it).
6. (It should be kindled) on the day of the new moon of the month of Vaisâkha or on another (new moon day).
7. Some say (that the fire should be kindled) according to the (sacrificer's) wishes under the (corresponding) constellation.
8 8. He should light his fire at one of the following places, viz. in the house of a Vaisya who is rich in
cattle, at a frying-pan, or (at the fire of) one who offers many sacrifices.
9 9-11. Some say that (the fire should be fetched from one of the above-mentioned places) in the evening and in the morning.
10. The inauguration (of the fire) by an evening offering should be learnt from the Adhvaryus, according to (my) teacher.
11. In the morning he shall offer a full oblation with a verse sacred to Vishnu, or silently.
12 12. The time for setting it (i.e. the domestic fire) in a blaze and for sacrificing on it has been explained by (the rules given with regard to) the Agnihotra.
13 13. And 'invested with the sacrificial cord,' &c., all these rules, as far as they are applicable, should be applied (here also) in consequence of the unity of the ritual.
14. With regard to this they quote also (the following Sloka):
15 15. 'The kinds of Pâkayagñas, the kinds of Haviryagñas, and again the kinds of Soma sacrifices,
'Twenty-one by number, these are proclaimed to be the kinds of sacrifice.'
12:1 I, 1. The ceremonies to be treated of are defined here as the Pâkayagñas (i.e. oblations of cooked offerings) just as in the opening sentence of the Pâraskara-Grihya they are called grihyasthâlîpâkâs. This is indeed the most characteristic form of offerings belonging to the domain of the Grihya ritual, though it would not be correct to state that the Grihya-sûtras treat exclusively of sacrificial ceremonies of this kind.
12:2 As to the duty of the Vedic student of putting every day a piece of wood on the sacred fire of his teacher, see below, II, 6, 8, and compare the Grihya-samgraha-parisishta II, 58. According to a Kârikâ given by Nârâyana, and the Karmapradîpa (I, 6, 13). the prescription of this Sûtra regarding the time for the kindling of the sacred fire refers exclusively to the case of vâgdâna (betrothal). Comp. also Dr. Bloomfield's note on the Grihya-samgraha-parisishta I, 76 (Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, XXXV, 560). In the Kârikâ it is stated that if the betrothed girl dies after the fire has been kindled, but before the marriage, the sacrificer is not to forsake his fire, but to marry another girl; if he cannot find a bride, he should make the fire enter into himself according to the rules given by Sâṅkhâyana-Grihya V, 1, and himself become uttarâsramin, i.e. enter one of the two final Âsramas.
13:5 Nârâyana: 'If the fire has not been kindled at the time stated above, then, after the householder . . . i.e. the father, even if he should not have performed the âdhâna, or the elder brother has died, the eldest son (or the son who after his elder brother's death has become the eldest), after he has performed the Sapindîkarana (for the dead father or brother; see below, IV, 3, and the ninth chapter of the Parisishta [book V]), even if he has not divided the inheritance with his younger brothers (so that the time stated in the fourth Sûtra would not have arrived), should kindle the fire himself, i.e. without an officiating priest (ritvig). . . . Or the Sûtra should be divided into two; prete vâ grihapatau (or after the death of the householder), and svayam gyâyân (the eminent one himself), i.e. of Brâhmanas, Kshatriyas, and Vaisyas a gyâyân, which means a most eminent person, a Brâhmana, performs the Pâkayagñas himself; for the two other castes the Pâkayagñas have to be performed through an officiating priest: this is the meaning of this svayam (himself).' I have given this note of Nârâyana as a specimen of the entirely arbitrary and obviously misleading explanations which are unfortunately so frequently found in this author, as indeed in most of the other Sûtra commentators. As to the true meaning of this svayam I still adhere to the explanation which I proposed in my German edition of the text (p. 118), that in case no division of the inheritance takes place, the sacred fire should be kindled on behalf of all the joint-proprietors, but that only the eldest brother should act personally (svayam).
13:8 Or, 'at (the fire of) a person rich in cattle, in the house of a Vaisya,' &c.? The commentators (see p. 118 of the German p. 14 edition) differ as to whether in purupasu-vitkula one or two alternatives are contained, and it is interesting to see that the Sûtra authors themselves differed in this respect; Pâraskara (I, 2, 3), when declaring from what place the fire should be fetched, speaks of the house of a Vaisya rich in cattle; Âsvalâyana, on the contrary, who in the Grihya-sûtra does not expressly treat of the kindling of the domestic fire, in the corresponding passage of the Srauta-sûtra (II, 2, 1), gives the rule that the dakshinâgni is to be fetched from the house of a Vaisya or from a rich person.'
14:9-11 9-11. I now differ from the opinion which I pronounced in my German edition with regard to the relation in which these three Sûtras stand to each other. I think they ought to be understood thus: 9. Some teachers say that the fetching of the fire from its yoni, as taught in Sûtra 8, ought to be done twice; in the evening, so that the fire, after the necessary rites have been performed, goes out, and then again in the morning. 10. But my (the author's) teacher (comp. as to akâryâh, Kâtyâyana's Srauta-sûtra I, 3, 7; Professor Garbe's note on Vaitâna-sûtra 1, 3) is of opinion that the fire should be fetched only once, and that with this fire the ceremonies which are taught by the Adhvaryus are to be performed in the evening (see, for instance, Kâty. IV, 7. 8, which passage is paraphrased here by Nârâyana). 11. In the morning (according to the same teacher, not, as I once understood this passage, according to the eke referred to in Sûtra 9), a full oblation is to be offered, &c.
14:12 Srauta-sûtra II, 6, 2 seq.
15:13 Srauta-sûtra I, 1, 6. 7: yagñopavîtî devakarmâni karoti, prâkînâvîtî pitryâni, &c. The unity of the ritual of course means the unity of the two great domains of the Srauta and Grihya ritual.
15:15 With regard to the twenty-one kinds of sacrifice compare, for instance, Gautama VIII, 18-20; Max Müller, ZDMG. IX, p. lxxiii; Weber, Indische Studien, X, 326. The seven kinds of Pâkayagñas are the Ashtakâ sacrifices (see below, III, 12 seq.), the sacrifices offered at each Parvan (I, 3), the Srâddha (or funeral) sacrifices (IV, 1 seq.), the sacrifice of the Srâvanî full moon (IV, 19), of the Âgrahâyanî (IV, 17 seq.), of the Kaitrî (IV, 19), and of the Âsvayugî (IV, 16). The seven Havis sacrifices (belonging, as is the case also with the third division of sacrifices, to the Srauta ritual) are the Agnyâdheya, the Agnihotra, the sacrifices of the full and new moon, the Âgrayana, the three Kâturmâsya sacrifices, the Nirûdhapasubandha, and the Sautrâmanî. The seven kinds of Soma sacrifices (of which the more ancient texts mention only three or four samsthâs, see Weber, Indische Studien, IX, 1 20) are the Agnishtoma, the Atyagnishtoma, the Ukthya, the Shodasin, the Atirâtra, the Aptoryâma.