II, 13

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

p. 326

KANDIKÂ 13.

1 ¹. On an auspicious day the harnessing to the plough. Or under (the Nakshatra) Gyeshthâ, (because that rite is) sacred to Indra.

2 ². To Indra, Parganya, the two Asvins, the Maruts, Udalâkâsyapa, Svâtikârî, Sîtâ, and Anumati, he offers curds, rice grains, perfumes, and fried grains, and then makes the bullocks eat honey and ghee.

3. He should put them to the plough with (the verse), 'They harness to the ploughs' (Vâg. Samh. XII, 67).

4. With (the verse), 'For luck may us the ploughshares' (Vâg. Samh. XII, 69) let him plough or touch the plough-share.

5 ⁵. Or (he may) not (do so), because (that verse) has been prescribed for (the erection of) the Agni (-altar), and the act of sowing stands in connection (with it).

6. After the front-bullock has been sprinkled (with water), they then should plough unploughed ground.

p. 327

7 ⁷. He should make oblations of cooked sacrificial food to the same deities as above, when sowing both rice and barley, and at the sacrifice to Sîtâ.

8. Then (follows) feeding of the Brâhmanas.

Footnotes

326:1 13, 1. Indra is the presiding deity over the constellation Gyeshthâ; see Sâṅkhâyana-Grihya I, 26, 16, &c.

326:2 The names of the genius Udalâkâsyapa and of the female genius Svâtikârî occur, as far as I know, only hero. Böhtlingk-Roth propose to read Sphâtimkârî ('the goddess who gives abundance').

326:5 At the Agni-kayana ceremony furrows are drawn with the plough on the Agni-kshetra with the verses Vâg. Samh. XII, 69-7 2. Afterwards grains of different kinds are sown. See Kâtyâyana XVII, 2, 12; 3, 8; Indische Studien, XIII, 244 seq. Thus in the Srauta ritual the verse Vâg. Samh. XII, 69 stands in a connection which does not conform to the occasion for which it would be used here.

327:7 'As above' refers to Sûtra 2. On the Sîtâ-yagña, see below, chap. 17.