Fetching
One moment.
Fetching
One moment.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1It is the first of these alternatives which Prof. Knauer maintains; I wish, on the other hand, to call 1 Cf, Knauer’s Introduction, pp. 24, 31 seq. INTRODUCTION. 5 the attention of Vedic scholars to some facts which seem to me to render the second more probable. A great part of the Mantras which have to be recited, according to Gobhila, at the performance of the Grzhya ceremonies, are not given in the Mantra-Brahmaza, but they are either found in the SAma-veda-Samhita and then their Pratikas are quoted by Gobhila, or they are cited by Gobhila in extenso. Thus for the ceremonies described in the first Prap4a¢saka of Gobhila, such as the morning and evening offerings and the sacrifices of the full and new moon, the Mantra-Brahmaaa gives, with one single exception, no Mantras at all; but those Mantras, most of which consist only of a few words, are given by Gobhila only. It is scarcely to be believed that in a Samhita which had to contain the Mantras required for the performance of the Grihya sacrifices, the Mantras belonging to the two daily and the two fortnightly sacrifices, which occupy one of the first places among all Grzhya ceremonies and are treated of accordingly in all Grzhya-sitras, should have been omitted, unless that SamhitA was intended to stand in relation to another text by which that deficiency was supplied: and the Gobhiliya-sitra exactly supplies it. Prof. Knauer thinks that those Mantras were omitted because they had already found their place in the Srauta ritual ; but we must not forget that in the Srauta ritual of the SAma-vedins neither the Agnihotra nor the Darsapirzamasa sacrifices, which are performed without the assistance of priests of the Udgatr? class, are treated of. Moreover the one Mantra-to which we have already alluded’, the single one which corresponds in the Mantra-Brahmaza to the first book of Gobhila, seems to me quite sufficient to show that it was not the intention of the compiler of that text to disregard that group of sacrifices; he gave that Mantra only, because the other Mantras, consisting of but a few words, were given in extenso in the Gobhila text. The Mantra of which we speak, belongs to the description 1 Cf, Knauer’s translation, Introduction, p. 25. 3 Mantra-Brihmasa I, 1, 1. 6 GRIHYA-SOTRA OF GOBHILA.
2The Mantra of which we speak, belongs to the description 1 Cf, Knauer’s translation, Introduction, p. 25. 3 Mantra-Brihmasa I, 1, 1. 6 GRIHYA-SOTRA OF GOBHILA. of the paryukshaza of the sacrificial fire. The sacrificer pours out water to the south, the west, and the north of the fire, with the Mantras, ‘ Aditesnumanyasva, ‘Anumate snumanyasva, ‘Sarasvaty anumanyasva’; then he sprinkles water round the fire once or three times with a longer Mantra, ‘ Deva Savita# prasuva yag#am prasuva yag#apatim bhagdya. Divyo gandharvas ketapik ketam nah punatu. Vakaspatir vakam nak svadatu.’ This last one is the Mantra given in its entirety in the Mantra-Brahmaza, while Gobhila! has only the first words of it. To assume here that the author of the Mantra-Brahmaza knew only of that one Mantra, and that at the time of Gobhila the custom of the S4ma-vedins had undergone a change, so that they used four Mantras instead of the one, would be, in my opinion, an artificial and not very probable way of explaining the facts; a much more natural supposition would be, I believe, that the Sdtra and the Mantra-Brahmama describe one and the same form of the ceremony, so that the Brahmaza, by omitting the short Mantras, which were given in the Sdtra in their entirety, implicitly refers to the Sdtra, and the Sftra, on the other hand, by quoting only the first words of the longer Mantra, refers to the Brahmawa in which the full text of that Mantra was given. Among the numerous ceremonies described by Gobhila, which could furnish the occasion for similar remarks, we select only two: the rites performed in the evening of the wedding-day *, and the sacrifice on the full-moon day of Asvayuga*. The bridegroom, having carried away his bride from her home, takes her to the house of a Brahmana, and when the stars have appeared, he makes six oblations with the six verses lekhasandhishu pakshmasu (Mantra-Br. I, 3, 1-6): these are given in the Mantra-Brahmama, and Gobhila has only the Pratika. ‘Then follow two short Mantras: the bride, to whom the polar-star has been shown, addresses that star with the words: dhruvam asi dhruvaham patikule bhoiyd4sam amushydasav iti; 1 Gobh. I, 3, 4. 2 Gobh. II, 3, 17 seq. 3 Gobh. III, 8. INTRODUCTION. 7
3‘Then follow two short Mantras: the bride, to whom the polar-star has been shown, addresses that star with the words: dhruvam asi dhruvaham patikule bhoiyd4sam amushydasav iti; 1 Gobh. I, 3, 4. 2 Gobh. II, 3, 17 seq. 3 Gobh. III, 8. INTRODUCTION. 7 and when she sees the star Arundhati, she says, ruddhaham asmi. As the full wording of these Mantras is given by Gobhila, they are omitted in the Brahmaza. Finally the bridegroom recites over the bride the Rik dhruvaé dyaur dhruva prithivi, &c.; this we find in the M.-B. (I, 3,7), the Pratika only being quoted by Gobhila. If one were to suppose here that in the two texts two different stages in the development of this ceremony are represented, so that only the Mantras lekhasandhishu and dhruva dyau& would belong to the more ancient form of it, while the Mantras dhruvam asi and ruddhaham asmi would have been introduced at a later time, it may perhaps not be possible to disprove, in the strictest sense of the word, such an opinion. But I think the data we have given point to another solution of the problem which, if not the only admissible, is yet the most probable and natural one. Gobhila gave the full wording of the shorter Mantras with which the description of the ceremony could be interwoven without becoming obscure or disproportionate ; the longer Mantras would have interrupted, rather tediously and inconveniently, the coherency of his ritual statements; so he separated them from the rest of his work and made a separate Samhita of them. It is true that there are some exceptions to the rule that all long Mantras are given in the Mantra-Brahmaza and all short Mantras only in the Sdtra: on the one hand, there are some Mantras of considerable extent that are given by Gobhila and omitted in the Brahmaza, thus, for instance, the Mantra yady asi saumi used at a preparatory ceremony that belongs to the Pumsavana!. On the other hand, a number of short Mantras which Gobhila gives in extenso, are found nevertheless also in the Mantra-Brahmavza: such is the case, for instance, with many of the Mantras belonging to the worship of the Fathers, Gobhila IV, 2. 3, Mantra-Br. IT, 3. 1 Gobh. II, 6, 7. It is possible, though we have no positive evidence for this conjecture, that such statements regarding preparatory or auxiliary ceremonies may here and there have been added to the Siitra collection in a later time. The Khadira-Grzhya (II, 2, 20) has instead of that long Mantra only a few words which in the Gobhiliya-sitra stand at the end of it. 8 GRIHYA-SOTRA OF GOBHILA. It appears then, that allowance must be made for a certain inconsistency or carelessness in the distribution of the material between the two texts: and such an assumption will easily be allowed by any one who does not entertain very exaggerated ideas as to the care and reflection which presided over the composition of the Sdtra texts.
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1It is the first of these alternatives which Prof. Knauer maintains; I wish, on the other hand, to call 1 Cf, Knauer’s Introduction, pp. 24, 31 seq. INTRODUCTION. 5 the attention of Vedic scholars to some facts which seem to me to render the second more probable. A great part of the Mantras which have to be recited, according to Gobhila, at the performance of the Grzhya ceremonies, are not given in the Mantra-Brahmaza, but they are either found in the SAma-veda-Samhita and then their Pratikas are quoted by Gobhila, or they are cited by Gobhila in extenso. Thus for the ceremonies described in the first Prap4a¢saka of Gobhila, such as the morning and evening offerings and the sacrifices of the full and new moon, the Mantra-Brahmaaa gives, with one single exception, no Mantras at all; but those Mantras, most of which consist only of a few words, are given by Gobhila only. It is scarcely to be believed that in a Samhita which had to contain the Mantras required for the performance of the Grihya sacrifices, the Mantras belonging to the two daily and the two fortnightly sacrifices, which occupy one of the first places among all Grzhya ceremonies and are treated of accordingly in all Grzhya-sitras, should have been omitted, unless that SamhitA was intended to stand in relation to another text by which that deficiency was supplied: and the Gobhiliya-sitra exactly supplies it. Prof. Knauer thinks that those Mantras were omitted because they had already found their place in the Srauta ritual ; but we must not forget that in the Srauta ritual of the SAma-vedins neither the Agnihotra nor the Darsapirzamasa sacrifices, which are performed without the assistance of priests of the Udgatr? class, are treated of. Moreover the one Mantra-to which we have already alluded’, the single one which corresponds in the Mantra-Brahmaza to the first book of Gobhila, seems to me quite sufficient to show that it was not the intention of the compiler of that text to disregard that group of sacrifices; he gave that Mantra only, because the other Mantras, consisting of but a few words, were given in extenso in the Gobhila text. The Mantra of which we speak, belongs to the description 1 Cf, Knauer’s translation, Introduction, p. 25. 3 Mantra-Brihmasa I, 1, 1. 6 GRIHYA-SOTRA OF GOBHILA.
2The Mantra of which we speak, belongs to the description 1 Cf, Knauer’s translation, Introduction, p. 25. 3 Mantra-Brihmasa I, 1, 1. 6 GRIHYA-SOTRA OF GOBHILA. of the paryukshaza of the sacrificial fire. The sacrificer pours out water to the south, the west, and the north of the fire, with the Mantras, ‘ Aditesnumanyasva, ‘Anumate snumanyasva, ‘Sarasvaty anumanyasva’; then he sprinkles water round the fire once or three times with a longer Mantra, ‘ Deva Savita# prasuva yag#am prasuva yag#apatim bhagdya. Divyo gandharvas ketapik ketam nah punatu. Vakaspatir vakam nak svadatu.’ This last one is the Mantra given in its entirety in the Mantra-Brahmaza, while Gobhila! has only the first words of it. To assume here that the author of the Mantra-Brahmaza knew only of that one Mantra, and that at the time of Gobhila the custom of the S4ma-vedins had undergone a change, so that they used four Mantras instead of the one, would be, in my opinion, an artificial and not very probable way of explaining the facts; a much more natural supposition would be, I believe, that the Sdtra and the Mantra-Brahmama describe one and the same form of the ceremony, so that the Brahmaza, by omitting the short Mantras, which were given in the Sdtra in their entirety, implicitly refers to the Sdtra, and the Sftra, on the other hand, by quoting only the first words of the longer Mantra, refers to the Brahmawa in which the full text of that Mantra was given. Among the numerous ceremonies described by Gobhila, which could furnish the occasion for similar remarks, we select only two: the rites performed in the evening of the wedding-day *, and the sacrifice on the full-moon day of Asvayuga*. The bridegroom, having carried away his bride from her home, takes her to the house of a Brahmana, and when the stars have appeared, he makes six oblations with the six verses lekhasandhishu pakshmasu (Mantra-Br. I, 3, 1-6): these are given in the Mantra-Brahmama, and Gobhila has only the Pratika. ‘Then follow two short Mantras: the bride, to whom the polar-star has been shown, addresses that star with the words: dhruvam asi dhruvaham patikule bhoiyd4sam amushydasav iti; 1 Gobh. I, 3, 4. 2 Gobh. II, 3, 17 seq. 3 Gobh. III, 8. INTRODUCTION. 7
3‘Then follow two short Mantras: the bride, to whom the polar-star has been shown, addresses that star with the words: dhruvam asi dhruvaham patikule bhoiyd4sam amushydasav iti; 1 Gobh. I, 3, 4. 2 Gobh. II, 3, 17 seq. 3 Gobh. III, 8. INTRODUCTION. 7 and when she sees the star Arundhati, she says, ruddhaham asmi. As the full wording of these Mantras is given by Gobhila, they are omitted in the Brahmaza. Finally the bridegroom recites over the bride the Rik dhruvaé dyaur dhruva prithivi, &c.; this we find in the M.-B. (I, 3,7), the Pratika only being quoted by Gobhila. If one were to suppose here that in the two texts two different stages in the development of this ceremony are represented, so that only the Mantras lekhasandhishu and dhruva dyau& would belong to the more ancient form of it, while the Mantras dhruvam asi and ruddhaham asmi would have been introduced at a later time, it may perhaps not be possible to disprove, in the strictest sense of the word, such an opinion. But I think the data we have given point to another solution of the problem which, if not the only admissible, is yet the most probable and natural one. Gobhila gave the full wording of the shorter Mantras with which the description of the ceremony could be interwoven without becoming obscure or disproportionate ; the longer Mantras would have interrupted, rather tediously and inconveniently, the coherency of his ritual statements; so he separated them from the rest of his work and made a separate Samhita of them. It is true that there are some exceptions to the rule that all long Mantras are given in the Mantra-Brahmaza and all short Mantras only in the Sdtra: on the one hand, there are some Mantras of considerable extent that are given by Gobhila and omitted in the Brahmaza, thus, for instance, the Mantra yady asi saumi used at a preparatory ceremony that belongs to the Pumsavana!. On the other hand, a number of short Mantras which Gobhila gives in extenso, are found nevertheless also in the Mantra-Brahmavza: such is the case, for instance, with many of the Mantras belonging to the worship of the Fathers, Gobhila IV, 2. 3, Mantra-Br. IT, 3. 1 Gobh. II, 6, 7. It is possible, though we have no positive evidence for this conjecture, that such statements regarding preparatory or auxiliary ceremonies may here and there have been added to the Siitra collection in a later time. The Khadira-Grzhya (II, 2, 20) has instead of that long Mantra only a few words which in the Gobhiliya-sitra stand at the end of it. 8 GRIHYA-SOTRA OF GOBHILA. It appears then, that allowance must be made for a certain inconsistency or carelessness in the distribution of the material between the two texts: and such an assumption will easily be allowed by any one who does not entertain very exaggerated ideas as to the care and reflection which presided over the composition of the Sdtra texts.
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
No commentary for this page.