I, 25

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

KHANDA 25.

1 ¹. After ten days the getting up (of the mother from childbed).

p. 52

2. Father and mother with washed heads, wearing (new) clothes which have not yet been washed;

3. And so also the child.

4 ⁴. Let (the father) cook a mess of food in that same fire that has been kept from her confinement,

5. And let him make oblations to the Tithi of (the child's) birth and to three constellations with their (presiding) deities.

6. Let him place in the middle the oblation to that constellation under which (the child) is born; the deity, however, is constantly to precede (the corresponding Nakshatra).

7 ⁷. (He then makes two other oblations with the verses,) '(May) this Agni, the excellent one, (give) thee to-day life for (our) prayers; give us life that we may live long,'—(and,) 'Life-giving, Agni, be strong by Havis; may thy face and thy seat be full of ghee; drinking ghee, the sweet honey of the cow, protect, as a father (protects) his son, here N.N.' The tenth oblation of the mess of cooked food with the verse, 'Thou, Soma, givest bliss to the old one' (Rig-veda I, 91, 7).

8. Having pronounced aloud (the child's) name,

9. And caused the Brâhmanas to say auspicious words,

10. And having sacrificed in the same way every month to the Tithi of (the child's) birth,

11 ¹¹. He sacrifices, when one year has expired, on the (ordinary) domestic fire.

Footnotes

51:1 25, 1. After ten days the impurity (asauka) that falls on the mother at her confinement, ceases; see Gautama XIV, 16; Manu V, 62; Vasishtha IV, 21.

52:4 Comp. the note on chap. 24, 1.

52:7 The first Mantra is corrupt; in the Âsvalâyana-Srauta-sûtra (II, 10, 4) its text runs thus, âyush te visvato dadhad ayam agnir varenyah, &c. Comp. Atharva-veda VII, 53, 6.

52:11 'The words "every month" (Sûtra 10) retain their value p. 53(here also). Thus the sûtikâgni is to be kept through one year. After the lapse of that year one should sacrifice every month on the domestic fire as long as his life lasts. As it is said "in the domestic fire," the sûtikâgni is not to be kept any longer.' Nârâyana.