Pra<I>s</I>na IV, Adhyâya 5

PRASNA IV, ADHYÂYA 5.

1. Now, therefore, I will proclaim by what rites, connected with the Sâman, Rik, Yagus, and Atharva-vedas, ¹

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[paragraph continues] (man) quickly attains the wishes of his heart.

2. Having purified his body by muttered prayers, burnt oblations, Ishtis, restraints, and the like, he will accomplish all his objects. He will not attain success in any other way.

3. A Brâhmana, who is going to mutter prayers, to offer burnt oblations or Ishtis, or to practise restraints, shall, first, during the bright half of the month, on a lucky day and under a lucky constellation, cause his hair and beard to be cut. ³

4. Let him bathe in the morning, at noon, and in the evening; let him beware of anger and untruth; let him not address women and Sûdras; let him be continent, and subsist solely on food fit for offerings.

5. Avoiding to sleep in the day-time, let him worship cows, Brâhmanas, manes, and gods. As long as he is engaged in muttering prayers, offering Homas and Ishtis, and practising restraints, let him stand during the day and sit during the night.

6. The Krikkhra (penance) revealed by Pragâpati lasts twelve days, (which are divided into four separate) periods of three days; (during the first period of three days he eats) in the day-time (only, during the second) at night (only, during the third he subsists on) food given without asking, (and during the fourth) finally (he lives on) air. ⁶

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7. (If one eats on) one (day in) the morning (only), and (on the following day) at night (only, on the next day food) given without asking, (and on the fourth day) subsists on air, and repeats this three times, that is called the Krikkhra (penance) of children. ⁷

8. (If) one eats one mouthful only at each (meal), following, during (three) periods of three days, the rules given above, and subsists during another period of three days on air, that is called the Atikrikkhra penance. ⁸

9. (If) during those (first) three periods of three days one partakes of water only, and subsists afterwards (during three days) on air, that third (variety) must be known to be the most efficacious Krikkhrâtikrikkhra penance. ⁹

10. If one drinks hot milk, (hot) clarified butter, (and a hot) decoction of Kusa grass, each during three days, and fasts during another three days, that is called the Taptakrikkhra. ¹⁰

11. (If one lives during one day) on cow's urine, (during one day) on cowdung, (during one day) on milk, (during one day) on sour milk, (during one day) on clarified butter, (during one day) on a decoction of Kusa grass, and during one (day and) night on air, that is called the Sâmtâpana Krikkhra. ¹¹

12. Let him take the cow's urine, reciting the Gâyatrî; the cowdung, (reciting the text), 'Gandhadvârâm;' ¹²

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the milk, (reciting the verse), 'Âpyâyasva;' the sour milk, reciting (the verse), 'Dadhikrâvnâ;' the clarified butter, (saying), 'Sukram asi;' the decoction of Kusa grass (with the text), 'Devasya tvâ;'

13. (And mix together) one part of cow's urine, half as much .cowdung, three parts of milk, two of sour milk, one part of clarified butter, and one part of water boiled with Kusa grass;' a Sâmtâpana Krikkhra (performed) in this manner will purify even a Svapâka. ¹³

14. He who subsists during five (days and) nights on cow's urine, cowdung, milk, sour milk, and clarified butter will be purified by (that) Pañkagavya (the five products of the cow). ¹⁴

15. If, self-restrained and attentive, he fasts during twelve days, that is called a Parâka Krikkhra, which destroys all sin. ¹⁵

16. If he subsists on cow's urine and the other (substances named above), one day on each, and continues (this mode of life) during thrice seven days, the theologians call that a Mahâsâmtâpana Krikkhra. ¹⁶

17. If he daily adds to his food one mouthful during the bright (half of the month) and diminishes it daily by one mouthful during the dark (half of the month), and keeps two fasts in the two halves of the month, that is called a Kândrâyana. ¹⁷

18. If, with concentrated mind, a Brâhmana eats four mouthfuls in the morning and four mouthfuls when the sun has set, he will perform the Kândrâyana of children. ¹⁸

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19. If, self-restrained, he daily eats, during a month, at midday eight mouthfuls of food, fit for a sacrifice, he will perform the Kândrâyana of ascetics. ¹⁹

20. But a Brâhmana who eats anyhow, during a month, thrice eighty mouthfuls of food, fit for a sacrifice, goes to the world of the moon. ²⁰

21. As the rising moon frees the world from the fear of darkness, even so a Brâhmana who performs a Kândrâyana removes the fear of sin.

22. He who lives one day on (rice)-grains, three days on oil-cakes, 'five days on buttermilk mixed with water, seven days on water, and (one day) on air, (performs) the guilt-destroying Tulâpurusha. ²²

23. Living on barley-gruel (yâvaka) removes the guilt of corporeal beings after seven days, and so does a fast of seven days; that has been recognised by wise men.

24. By dressing in wet clothes, by living in the open air, and by exposing himself to the sun during the light halves of the months Pausha (December-January), Bhâdrapada (August-September), and Gyeshtha (May-June), a Brâhmana is freed from (all) sin excepting crimes causing loss of caste (patanîya). ²⁴

25. (If one swallows) cows' urine, cowdung, milk, ²⁵

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sour milk, clarified butter, and a decoction of Kusa grass, mixed with barley gruel, that is the most sanctifying Brahmakûrka.

26. He who fasts on the new moon day and eats sesamum grains on the full moon day, will be freed in the course of a year from the sins which he committed in the bright and the dark halves of the month.

27. He who lives on alms obtained from Agnihotrins is purified in one month; (he who obtains his food) from a Yâyâvara. in ten days; he who receives it from a hermit in the forest, in five days;

28. (He who lives) on food given by a person who has a store sufficient for one day only, will be purified in one day; he who drinks water given by a person subsisting by the Kapota-vritti (pigeon-life), is purified in three (days). ²⁸

29. If one recites the whole Rig-veda, Yagur-veda, and Sâma-veda, or thrice reads one of these Vedas and fasts, (that is) a most efficient means of purification.

30. Now if one is in haste to finish, one may live on air during a day, and pass the night standing in water, that is equal (in efficacy) to a Prâgâpatya (Krikkhra). ³⁰

31. He who at sunrise mutters the Gâyatrî one thousand and eight times, is free from all sin, provided he has not slain a learned Brâhmana.

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32. He who distributes food, speaks the truth, and has compassion on all living beings, is more (holy) than all those who have been purified by the restraints mentioned above.

Footnotes

322:1 5. All the Dekhan MSS., including K., have been copied from p. 323 a MS. the leaves of which were out of order. After the first words of ver. 1, they have kshîram dadhisarpih kusodakam, which belongs to ver. 26, and they go on with the text down to IV, 7, 7, after which the end of IV, 5, 1 and 2-25 given.--'Yantra, "restraints," i.e. Krikkhras and the like, (which are called so) on account of the restraint of the senses (required for them).'--Govinda.

323:3-5. Vasishtha XXIV, 5.

323:6 Vasishtha XXI, 20. Repeated, see above, II, 1, 2, 38.

324:7 Vasishtha XXIII, 43; see above, II, 1, 2, 39.

324:8 Vasishtha XXIV, 2-3; see above, II, 1, 2, 40.

324:9 See above, II, 1, 2, 41.

324:10 See above, II, 1, 2, 37.

324:11 Vasishtha XXVII, 13; Vishnu XLVI, 19.

324:12 The texts quoted are found, Taitt. Âranyaka X, 10; III, 17; Taitt. Samhitâ I, 5, 11,4, 7; I, 1, 10, 3; VII, 1, 11, 1.

325:13 Vasishtha XXVII, 13.

325:14 Vasishtha XXVII, 14.

325:15 Vishnu XLVI, 18.

325:16 Vishnu XLVI, 20.

325:17 Vasishtha XXVII, 21; see above, III, 8.

325:18 Vishnu XLVII, 8.

326:19 Vishnu XLVII, 7.

326:20 Vishnu XLVII, 9. Govinda places this verse before Sûtra 19.

326:22 Vishnu XLVII, 22.

326:24 The meaning is that the performer is to stand in wet clothes during the first half of the month Pausha, in the cold season; to live in the open air during the first half of Bhâdrapada, in the rainy season; and to allow himself to be broiled by the sun in Gyeshtha, the hottest time of the hot season.

326:25 I doubt if the reading of Govinda, yavâkâmena (explained p. 327 by yavâgûh) samyuktam, 'mixed with barley-gruel,' is correct. All the MSS. of the text have yavânâm ekasamyukto, which I do not understand. Govinda has Brahmakrikkhrah instead of Brahmakûrkah. But see the Petersb. Diet. s. v. brahmakûrka.

327:28 Regarding the Kapota-vritti, see above, III, 2, 15.

327:30 Vasishtha XXVII, 17. Govinda adds after kartum, 'to finish," the rites connected with the Vedas' (Sûtra 1).