III, 12

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

KANDIKÂ 12.

1. When a battle is beginning, (the royal Purohita) should cause the king to put on his armour (in the following way).

2 ^12_2. (The Purohita) stations himself to the west of (the king's) chariot with (the hymn?), 'I have brought thee hither; be here' (Rig-veda X, 173).

3. With (the verse), 'Like a thunder-cloud is his countenance' (Rig-veda VI, 75, 1), he should tender the coat of mail to him.

4. With the following (verse) the bow.

5. The following (verse) he should cause him to repeat.

6. He should murmur himself the fourth.

7. With the fifth he should tender the quiver to him.

8. When (the king) starts, the sixth.

9. The seventh (he recites) over the horses.

10. The eighth he should cause (the king) to repeat while looking at the arrows;

p. 234

11. (The verse), 'Like a serpent it encircles the arm with its windings' (Rig-veda VI, 75, 14), when he ties to his arm the leather (by which the arm is protected against the bow-string).

12 ¹². He then mounts up to (the king on his chariot), while he is driving, and causes him to repeat the Abhîvarta hymn (Rig-veda X, 174) and the two verses, 'He who, Mitra and Varuna' (Rig-veda VIII, 101, 3 seq.).

13 ¹³. He then should look at him with the Apratiratha, Sâsa, and Sauparna hymns.

14 ¹⁴. The Sauparna is (the hymn), 'May the streams of honey and ghee flow forwards.'

15. (The king) should drive (in his chariot successively) to all quarters (of the horizon).

16. He should commence the battle in the line of battle invented by Âditya or by Usanas.

17 17-18. He should touch the drum with the three verses, 'Fill earth and heaven with thy roar' (Rig-veda VI, 47, 29 seqq.).

18. With (the verse), 'Shot off fall down' (Rig-veda VI, 75, 16), he should shoot off the arrows.

p. 235

19 ¹⁹. 'Where the arrows fly' (l.l. v. 17)—this (verse) he should murmur while they are fighting.

20. Or he should teach (the king the texts mentioned). Or he should teach (the king).

End of the Third Adhyâya.

Footnotes

233:12_2 12, 2. According to Nârâyana the Pratîka here signifies not the verse, but the whole hymn, though a whole Pâda is given (comp. Srauta-sûtra I, 1, 17).

234:12 The Abhîvarta hymn begins with the word abhîvartena, and is ascribed to Abhîvarta Âṅgirasa.

234:13 The Apratiratha hymn is Rig-veda X, 103 (ascribed to Apratiratha Aindra); the Sâsa, X, 152 (ascribed to Sâsa Bhâradvâga). On the Sauparna, see the next Sûtra.

234:14 This hymn is not found in any Vedic Samhitâ, as far s I know, nor does it occur in the Suparnâdhyâya. I have followed Prof. Stenzler's conjecture pra dhârâ yantu instead of pradhârayantu, which is confirmed by Sâyana's note on Aitareya Brâhmana VI, 25, 7; VIII, 10, 4 (pp. 365, 399 ed. Aufrecht).

234:17-18 17, 18. According to Nârâyana the subject is the king.

235:19 Here the subject is the Purohita.