Pra<I>s</I>na III, Adhyâya 4

PRASNA III, ADHYÂYA 4.

1. Now if a student commits any act against his vow, eats meat, or approaches a woman, whenever any evil befals him, ¹

2. He heaps fuel on the fire in the interior of the house, scatters (Kusa grass) around it, and performs the ceremonies up to the end of the Agnimukha; then he offers oblations of clarified butter, (reciting the following texts): 'It was done by lust, lust does

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it, to lust (belongs) all this, to him who draws me on, Svâhâ;' 'It was done by the internal organ, the internal organ does it, to the internal organ (belongs) all this, to him who draws me on, Svâhâ;' 'It was done by passion, passion does it, to passion (belongs) all this, to him who draws me on, Svâhâ;' 'It was done by ignorance, ignorance does it, to ignorance (belongs) all this, to him who draws me on, Svâhâ;' 'It was done by sin, sin does it, to sin (belongs) all this, to him who draws me on, Svâhâ;' 'It was done by wrath, wrath does it, to wrath (belongs) all this, to him who draws me on, Svâhâ.'

3. That which begins with the muttering (of the Vedic texts) and ends with the gift of a fee (consisting of) a cow is known,

4. (Afterwards) he stays (during the night) behind (i. e. to the west of) the fire, wrapping himself in the skin of a black antelope, the neck of which is turned towards the east and the hair of which is turned outside.

5. When the day dawns, he drags himself away from the hinder part (of the skin), goes to a bathing-place, bathes (there) in the manner which is known, (but) performs, while in the water, sixteen suppressions of breath with the Aghamarshana hymn; next he performs the known (ceremonies) up to the worship of the sun, and afterwards goes to the house of his teacher. ⁵

6. Let him know for certain that that is equally (effective) as bathing (with the priests) at the end of a horse-sacrifice.

Footnotes

294:1 4. The clause striyam vopeyât, 'or approaches a woman,' is omitted by Govinda. The whole chapter is a supplement to the rules given above, II, 1, 1, 30-35, where some of the Vedic passages mentioned here have already been given.

295:5 Govinda says that this manner of crawling out of the skin is symbolical of a new birth.