Chapter XVII. Āhnika and Āchāra

Volume II: Part I pp. 640–695

Chapter XVII. Āhnika and Āchāra

ĀHNIKA AND ĀCĀRA (Daily and periodical duties and ceremonies)

This forms a very important topic of dharmaśāstra. The daily duties of the brahmacārin have been already described above and those of the vānaprastha and yati will be spoken of later oṇ Under this section we are concerned principally with the duties of the snātaka (the would-be householder) and the gṛhastha (the householder).

Before the āhnika duties are described a few remarks about the importance of the stage of householder would not be out of place. It has already been shown (pp. 424-425) how one school of dharmaśāstra writers represented by Gautama and Baudhāyana looked upon the stage of householder as the only āśrama. The eulogies of the householder are sung in numerous passages of the dharmaśāstra workṣ Gaut. ¹ (III. 3) declares that the householder is the source (support) of all the other āśramas, because the other three do not produce offspring. Manu (III. 77-78) states that as all creatures live by receiving support from the air, so other āśramas subsist by relying for support on the householder and that as men belonging to all the three other orders (āśramas) are supported from day to day by the householder alone with (gifts of) food and sacred knowledge, the householder's is therefore the most excellent āśrama. Manu (VI. 89-90) reiterates the same sentiments under a different figure ‘just as all big and small rivers find a resting place in the ocean, so men of all āśramas find support in the householder and the householder is declared to be the most excellent of all precepts of the Veda and smṛtis, since he supports the other three’. Viṣṇu Dh. S. (59. 27–29) contains almost the same remarks as Manu. Vide Vaṣ VIII. 14–16 (15 being identical with Manu VI. 90). Vaṣ VII. 17 (and X. 31), Bauḍ Dh. S. II. 2. 1, Udyogaparva 40. 25 say that a householder observing the rules laid down for him does not fall away from the world of Brahma.² In the Mahābhārata also the eulogy of the order of householder is frequent. Śāntiparva 296. 39 is the same as Manu VI. 90. Śānti 270. 6-7 states ‘as all beings live on the support given by their mothers, so other āśramas subsist on the support of the order of householders’.³ In the same chapter (verses 10-11) Kapila condemns those who hold that mokṣa ( final release from saṁsāra ) is not possible for him who remains a householder. Śānti 12. 12 holds that, if weighed in the balance, the order of householders is equal to all the other three put together. Vide also Śānti 11. 15, 23. 2-5, Vanaparva chap. 2. The Ayodhyākāṇḍa 106. 22 also says that the stage of householder is the most excellent of all āśramaṣ

The brāhmaṇa householder is again divided into several varieties from different points of view. Bauḍ Dh. S. III. 1. 1, Devala (quoted in the Mit. on Yāj. I. 128) and other works divide a householder into two varieties viz. śālīna and yāyā- vara,⁴ the latter being superior to the former.⁵ The śālīna is one who dwells in a house, is possessed of servants and cattle, has a fixed place and a fixed village and has grain and wealth and follows the life of worldly people; the yāyāvara is one who subsists by the best of livelihood, viz. picking up grains that fall down when the corn that is reaped is taken to the house or threshing floor by the owner and who does not accumulate wealth or who does not earn his livelihood by officiating as priest, or by teaching or by accepting giftṣ Manu (IV. 7) appears to divide brāhmaṇa householders into four varieties, viz. one who possesses enough to fill a granary or a store filling a corn jar, one who collects as much as will satisfy his needs for three days, or one who makes no provision for the morrow. Vide Śāntiparva 244. 1-4 and Laghu-Viṣṇu II. 17 for similar statementṣ The Mit. on Yāj. I. 128 says that ‘śālīna is of four varieties viz. (1) one who maintains himself by officiating as a priest, teaching Veda, accepting gifts, agriculture, trade and breeding cattle, (2) one who subsists by the first three out of the above six, (3) one who subsists by officiating as a priest and by teaching, (4) one who subsists by teaching alone. Manu IV. 9 (as interpreted by the Mit.) refers to these four varietieṣ The Āp. Śr. (V. 3. 22) distinguishes between śālīna and yāyāvara.⁶ The Bauḍ gr. III. 5. 4 refers to yāyāvara. The word ‘yāyāvara’ occurs in the Tai. S. V. 2. 1. 7 ⁷ ‘therefore the active man lords it over one who is easy- going’; but here the word has not probably any technical sense.

In the Vaik. VIII. 5 ⁸ (=Vaik. Dh. S. I. 5) householders are divided into four classeṣ The first class (called vārtā vṛtti) maintains itself by agriculture, cattle-rearing and trade; the second ( _śālīna_ ) observes various _niyamas_ ( _vide_ Yāj. III. 313 ), offers _pākayajñas_ ( sacrifices of cooked food ), kindles the _śrauta_ fires, offers the _darśa_ and _pūrṇamāsa_ sacrifices each half month, offers _cāturmāsyas_, in each half year offers an animal sacrifice and each year the _soma_ sacrifice; the third ( _yāyāvara_ ) is engaged in the six actions _viz._ offering sacrifices of _havis_ and _soma_, officiating as priest at such sacrifices, studying the Veda and teaching it, making gifts and receiving them, constantly attends his fires ( _śrauta_ and _smārta_ ), and gives food to guests that come to him; the fourth ( called _ghorācārika_, one whose rules are awfully difficult to observe ) is observant of _niyamas_, offers sacrifices but does not officiate at others' sacrifices, studies the Veda but does not teach it, makes gifts but does not receive them, maintains himself on corn fallen in the fields &c., is absorbed in Nārāyaṇa, performs _agnihotra_ in the morning and evening, in Mārgaśīrṣa and Jyeṣṭha performs observances that are like the edge of a sword and attends upon his fires with herbs from a forest. These four names occur also in Bṛhat-Parāśara p. 290 ( Jīvānanda's eḍ ).

In numerous _smṛtis_, _purāṇas_ and digests the duties of householders have been described in detail. For example, _vide_ Gaut. V and IX, Āp. Dh. S. II. 1. 1-II. 4. 9, Vaṣ Dh. S. VIII. 1-17 and XI. 1-48, Manu IV, Yāj. I. 96-127, Viṣṇu Dh. S. 60-71, Dakṣa II, Vedavyāsa III, Mārkaṇḍeya-purāṇa 29-30 and 34, Nṛsiṁha-purāṇa 58. 45-106, Kūrmapurāṇa ( _uttarārdha_ chap. 15-16 ), Laghu-Hārīta IV. p. 183 ff ( Jīvānanda ), Droṇaparva 82, Vanaparva 2. 53-63, Aśvamedhika 45. 16-25, Anuśāsana-parva 97. Among the digests may be mentioned the Sṃ C. (I. pp. 88-232), the Smṛtyarthasāra (pp. 18-48), the Madanapārijāta ( pp. 204-345 ), the Gṛhastharatnākara, the Āhnikatattva of Raghunandana, the Vīramitrodaya ( Āhnikaprakāśa ), the Smṛtimuktāphala ( Āhnikakāṇḍa ). It would be impossible to present in the space at our disposal all the details of the duties of the householder contained in the vast sources indicated above. Some of the usual, outstanding or important matters alone can be dealt with here. Some of the works contain moral exhortations to the householder. For example, the Anuśāsanaparva⁹ (141. 25-26) says 'ahimsa, truthfulness, compassion towards all beings, quiescence, charity according to one's ability—this is the best dharma for a gṛhastha (householder). Non-contact with the wives of others, guarding one's wife and deposit (made by another), abstaining from taking what is not given (by the owner), avoiding honey and meat—this five-fold dharma has many branches and gives rise to happinesṣ' Dakṣa (II. 66-67) also has similar provisionṣ But such moral exhortations (called sādhāraṇa dharmas) have already been discussed above (pp. 3-11).

From very ancient times there were several ways of dividing the day. Sometimes the word ‘ahah’ is distinguished from night and sometimes it stands for the period from sunrise to sunrise (and includes day and night). For example, in Ṛg. VI. 9. 1 we have¹⁰ the dark day (i. e. night) and the bright day (i. e. the period when there is light). This part (viz. the period of sunlight) is divided some times into two parts viz. pūrvāhṇa (period before noon) and aparāhṇa (the time after noon) Vide Ṛg. X. 34. 11, Manu III. 278. Day time is also divided into three parts, morning, midday and evening, which correspond to the three libations of Soma juice in prātaḥsavana, mādhyandina-savana and tṛtīya-savana. Vide Ṛg. III. 53. 8 where these three parts of the day are mentioned when Indra comes to drink Soma for a muhūrta each time and III. 28. 1, 4 and 5 (where all three savanas are named) and III. 32. 1, III. 52. 5-6. The day (of 12 hours) was often divided into five parts, ¹¹ viz. prātaḥ or udaya (sunrise), saṅgava, mādhyandina or madhyāhna (mid-day), aparāhṇa (afternoon) and sāyāhṇa or astagamana or sāyam (evening). Each of these five parts of day time will be equal to three muhūrtaṣ In some smṛtis and purāṇas these five parts are mentioned and defined; e. g. in the Prajāpatismṛti, vv. 156-157, Matsyapurāṇa 22. 82-84, 124. 88-90, Vāyu 50. 170-174. Vide Aparārka p. 465 (on Yāj. I. 226 ) where a śruti passage and verses from Vyāsa are quoted about these five partṣ¹² The whole day of twenty-four hours was divided into thirty muhūrtas; vide Śat. Br. XII. 3. 2. 5, S. B. E. vol. 44, p. 169 where the year is said to have 10800 muhūrtas (360 × 30). The Tai. Br. III. 10. 1 gives the names of the fifteen muhūrtas of day-time, such as Citra, Ketu &c.

The Madanapārijāta p. 496 quotes Vyāsa for the fifteen parts of the day.

The smṛtis however generally divide day-time into eight partṣ Dakṣa II. 4-5 divides the day into eight parts and then treats at length about the duties to be performed during those eight partṣ Kātyāyana divides day-time into eight parts and asks the king to assign three parts after the first to the investigation of judicial proceedingṣ¹³ That this was a very ancient division follows from several considerationṣ Kau-ṭilya¹⁴ divides the day and night each into eight parts and prescribes what the king is to do in the eight parts of the day and also in the eight parts of the night. Vaṣ XI. 36, Laghu-Hārīta 99, Laghu-Sātātapa v. 108 say 'the sun becomes mild-rayed in the 8th part of the day and that time is called kutapa.'¹⁵ The Kādambarī of Bāṇa (para 24) speaks of the light of the sun becoming clear and bright in the first eighth part of the day.¹⁶ In the Mahābhārata frequent reference is made to the sixth part of the day as a somewhat late hour for taking one's meal (and as making one hungry). Vide Vanaparva 179. 16, 180. 16, 293. 9, Aśvamedhika parva 90. 26-27.¹⁷ The principal matters to be discussed under āhnika are: getting up from bed, śauca (bodily purity), dantadhāvana (brūshing the teeth), snāna (bath), saṁdhyā, tarpana, the five mahāyajñas (including brahmayajña and honouring guests), attending on fire, bhojana (mid-day meal), obtaining wealth, studying and teaching, evening saṁdhyā, gifts, going to bed, performing sacrifices at certain stated timeṣ The Parāśara smṛti I. 39 summarises the most important daily duties as bathing, performing the saṁdhyā prayers, japa, homa, worship of gods and honouring of guests, and vaiśvadeva are the six (principal) daily actionṣ¹⁸ Manu (IV. 152 = Anuśāsana parva 104. 23) also enumerates in one place the principal daily actions that must be got through in the morning viz. answering calls of nature, toilet, bathing, brushing the teeth, applying collyrium to the eyes and worship of the gods¹⁹.

Although as stated in the Sūryasiddhānta²⁰ the day was calculated from sunrise, daytime for practical purposes was extended for a short time before sunrise and after sunrise. According to the Brahmavaivarta-purāṇa the four nāḍīs (or ghaṭikās) before sunrise and the four nāḍīs after sunset are included in daytime (dina) i. e. when a man takes his bath before sunrise on a particular day that bath is one for the day that is to begin after he takes his bath²¹. Several smṛtis like Manu IV. 92, Yāj. I. 115 enjoin that a man should get up from bed at the brāhma muhūrta,²² should reflect over dharma and artha that he would seek to attain that day and over the bodily efforts that he would have to undergo for securing his object and think out the real meaning of Vedic injunctionṣ Kullūka and others say that the word muhūrta in Manu IV. 92 means only time generally and not a period of two ghaṭikās and that it is called brāhma because that is a time when one's intelligence and one's power to compose a literary work are at their best. The Par. M. (I. 1. p. 220) ¹⁵²⁰ says that there are two muhūrtas in the half watch before sunrise, the first of the two is called brāhma and the second raudra. Pitāmaha quoted in the Sṃ C. (I. p. 88) says that the last watch of the night is called 'brāhma muhūrta'. From very early times getting up before sunrise was prescribed specially for a student and generally for everyone. Gaut. 23. 21 says that if the sun rose while a brahmacārin was asleep he should stand up the whole day without food and mutter the Gāyatrī throughout the day (as a penance) and if the sun set while he was asleep he should sit up the whole night engaged in muttering the Gāyatrī. Āp. Dh. S. II. 5. 12. 13-14 and Manu II. 220-221 contain similar rules and they employ the word 'abhinirmukta' ¹⁵²¹ ( or abhinirmrukta ) to denote one who is asleep when the sun setṣ The Gobhila-smṛti ( in verse ) I. 139 says that on getting up one should wash one's eyeṣ In the Ṛgvidhāna it is ordained that on getting up one should wipe one's eyes with water after reciting Ṛg. X. 73. 11 the latter half of which says 'remove away from us dark- ness, fulfil our eyes and release us who are as if bound with snares'.

The Sṃ C. (I. p. 88) quotes the Kūrmapurāṇa to the effect that on getting up from sleep some time before sunrise one should contemplate on Goḍ The Āhnika-prakāśa (p. 16) quotes five verses from the Vāmanapurāṇa (14. 23-27) which are to be recited on getting up as a morning hymn, one of which is quoted below. ¹⁵²² These verses are repeated even now by some old people. Some works say that he who repeats the four verses called Bhāratasāvitrī in the morning obtains the reward of hearing the whole Mahābhārata and attains the highest Brahma.²³ The Āhnikatattva (p. 327) quotes a verse to be repeated on getting up from bed in which the serpent Karkoṭaka, Damayantī, kings Nala and Ṛtuparṇa are remembered for removing the effects of Kali,²⁴ and the Smṛtimuktāphala quotes a verse about Nala, Yudhiṣṭhira, Sītā and Kṛṣṇa as puṇyaśloka (singing of whose glory is holy )²⁵. The Ācāraratna (p. 10 a) states that one should repeat the names of certain famous and long-lived (cirajīvins) personages viz. Aśvatthāman, Bali, Vyāsa, Hanūmān, Bibhīṣaṇa, Kṛpa, Paraśurāma and Mārkaṇḍeya and also the names of five holy women, Ahalyā, Draupadī, Sītā, Tārā and Mandodarī. Even now old men brought up in the orthodox ways repeat these names on getting up.

In some works it is said that if on getting up a man sees a brāhmaṇa learned in the Veda, a lady whose husband is living, a cow, an altar where fire is kindled, he becomes free from adversities and that if a man sees on getting up in the morning a very sinful man, a widow, an untouchable, one naked, one whose nose is cut off, that is an indication of kali (misfortune or strife).²⁶ Parāśara XII. 47 says that one who has built the fire altar (for Vedic sacrifices), a dark-brown cow, one who is engaged in a sattra (or performed it), the king, an ascetic, the ocean—these purify a man the moment they are seen, so one should see them alwayṣ

Then the next act is to answer the calls of nature. Very detailed rules are laid down about these even in the most ancient sūtras and smṛtis Many of the rules are simply hygienic, but as religion, rules of law, of morality, of health and hygiene are mixed up in the ancient works, they are given in works on dharma. Even in the Atharvaveda (XIII. 1. 56) it¹⁵²⁷ is said ‘I cut off thy root who kick a cow with the foot or who urinate opposite the sun (facing the sun); thou shall not further cast a shadow.’ Urinating while standing seems to have been condemned in the time of the Atharvaveda; vide VII. 102 (107). 1. ‘I shall urinate standing erect; let not the lords harm me.’ Gaut. IX. 13, 15, 37-43, Āp. Dh. S. I. 11. 30. 15-30 and I. 11. 31. 1-3, Vaṣ Dh. S. VI. 10-19 and XII. 11-13, Manu IV. 45-52, 56, 151, Yāj. I. 16-17, 134, 154, Viṣṇu Dh. S. 60. 1-26, Śaṅkha,¹⁵²⁸ Vāyupurāṇa 78. 59-64 and 79. 25-31, Vāmanapurāṇa 14. 30-32 may be summarised as follows: one should not void urine or ordure on the road, on ashes, on cow-dung, in ploughed or sown fields, under the shade of trees, in rivers or water, on grassy or beautiful spots, on bricks made ready for erecting altars, on mountain-tops, near dilapidated shrines or cowpens, on ant-hills, in cemeteries or in holes, on threshing floors, on sandy shoreṣ Nor should one answer calls of nature looking at or facing fire, the sun, the moon, a brāhmaṇa, water, the image of some god, cow, winḍ Nor should one do these acts on the bare ground, but on ground covered with dry twigs or leaves or grass or loose earth. One should cover one’s head and should face the north by day or when there is twilight and face the south at night, but when there is a danger one may face any directioṇ One should not urinate while standing or walking (Manu. IV. 47) nor should one speak while doing so.¹⁵²⁹ One should answer calls of nature away from a human habitation towards the south or south-west. Manu V. 126 and Yāj. I. 17 prescribe that, after answering calls of nature, one should perform cleansing the parts with water held in a pot and lumps of earth to such an extent that no smell or filth will stick. According to Manu V. 136 and 137 and Viṣṇu Dh. S. 60. 25-26 one lump of earth is to be applied to the penis, three to the arms, ten to the left hand and seven to both hands, three to both feet together. This is the extent of śauca required for householders, and for brahma- cārin, forest hermit and sannyāsin, twice, thrice and four times as much as requireḍ The Mit. on Yāj. I. 17 remarks that for all āśramas the cleansing required is only as much as will remove foul smell and filth and the several numbers of lumps of earth prescribed in different smṛtis are only prescribed for unseen (or spiritual) resultṣ Gaut. I. 45-46, Vaṣ III. 48 and Manu V. 134 say that cleansing of the body is to be so effected first with water and then with earth that foul smell and filth will be totally removeḍ Devala (quoted in the Gr. R. p. 147) says that respectable people do not emphasize the number of times mentioned in the smṛtis, but they say that cleansing should be carried on till one feels that it is all right.³⁰ The Smṛtyarthasāra³¹ (p. 19) following Dakṣa V. 12 says that at night only half of the śauca prescribed for the day is required, only one-fourth of it is prescribed for the ailing and only one-eighth when a man is on a journey and that no special number of lumps of earth are prescribed for women, śūdras, boys whose upanayana has not been performeḍ In cleansing one is not to employ stones, clods of earth, and green twigs cut off for the purpose from herbs and trees (Āp. Dh. S. I. 11. 30. 30, Gaut. IX. 15 ) nor is one to use earth from inside a river or water reservoir or from a temple, from an ant-hill or from the hiding places of rats or from dung-hills or what is left after being used for a prior cleansing (Vaṣ Dh. S. VI. 17) nor what is taken from a road or cemetery, nor should one use earth that has worms, coals, or bones or gravel in it. Dakṣa V. 7 prescribes that for the first time as much earth as will fill half of the outstretched hand and for the second time half of that is to be taken and so oṇ³² The lump of earth should not be bigger than a myrobalan fruit (Kūrmapurāṇa in Sṃ C. I. p. 182). One is not to answer calls of nature with the shoes on (Āp. Dh. S. I. 11. 30. 18 ) and one's yajñopavīta should be suspended from the right ear or he should throw it on his back in the nivīta forṃ³³ According to Yāj. I. 16 the yajñopavīta should be suspended from the right ear only. Vanaparva 59. 2 describes that kalī (the principle of evil and strife) entered Nala when the latter did not wash his feet after urinating.

This cleansing of the body in the morning is only a part of general śauca. Śauca is according to Gaut. VIII. 24 one of the ātmaguṇaṣ Even the Ṛg. (in VII. 56. 12 and other verses) appears to emphasize cleanliness (śucitva).³⁴ According to Hārīta 'śauca is the first path to dharma, it is the resting place of brahma (Veda), the abode of śrī (prosperity), the means of clearing (or soothing) the mind, the favourite of gods, the means of realizing the Ātman and the awakener of intelligence.'³⁵ According to Bauḍ Dh. S. III. 1. 26, Hārīta, Dakṣa V. 3 and Vyāghrapāda (quoted in Sṃ C. I. p. 93) śauca is of two kinds,³⁶ bāhya (outward) and āntara or ābhyantara (inward), the first being effected by water and loose earth and the latter is the purity of one's sentimentṣ Hārīta divides the first into three, that of kula (being free from impurity due to birth or death in the family), of artha (i. e. of the vessels and things to be used in all matters) and of śarīra (cf one's body); Hārīta divides ābhyantara into five, mānasa (mental), cākṣuṣa (of the eye i. e. not looking at things that should not be looked at), ghrāṇya (of the nose), vācya (of speech), svādya (of the tongue). According to a verse quoted by Haradatta on Gaut. VIII. 24 śauca is of four kinds, viz. of dravya (the vessels and things employed by one), of the mind, of speech and of the body. Vṛddha-Gautama (Jīvānanda p. 632) speaks of five kinds of śauca viz. of the mind, of actions, of kula (family), of the body and of speech. According to Manu V. 135, Viṣṇu Dh. S. 22. 81, Atri v. 31 and others there are twelve malas (filthy exudations or impurities) of the human body, viz. fat, semen, blood, marrow, urine, fæces, mucus of the nose, ear-wax, phlegm, tears, rheum of eyes, sweat; and the first six of these are removed by water and earth and the latter six by water ( Atri v. 32 ). After preforming śauca one has to rinse the mouth with twelve mouthfuls ( gaṇḍūṣa ) of water ( vide Smṛtimuktāphala, āhnika p. 220). When one finishes the purification of the body by washing the hands and feet and by rinsing the mouth one has to engage in ācamana.³⁷ A good deal has been said about ācamana above (pp. 315-316) under upanayana. Ācamana (sipping water) is to be done after tying the top-knot and tucking up the garment from behind; the water is to be poured in the hollowed palm of the hand in such a quantity that a grain of māṣa ( bean ) will be plunged in it and the three fingers except the thumb and the small one are to be joined together and the water is to be drunk from that part of the hand which is called brāhma tīrtha describ-ed above (ṇ 750). The word tīrtha means that part of the right hand by which water is taken in or poured in religious rites and the parts are given the names of deities for lauding them, as Viśva-rūpa sayṣ³⁸ In most smṛtis their number is four, viz. prājāpatya or kāya, pitrya, brāhma, and daiva (for example in Manu II. 59, Viṣṇu Dh. S. 62. 1-4, Yāj. I. 19, Mārkaṇḍeya-purāṇa 34. 103-109, Dakṣa II. 18). Some works like the Śātyāyanakalpa and Vṛddha-Vasiṣṭha quoted by Viśvarūpa on Yāj. I. 19 name five tīrthas viz. daiva (when a brāhmaṇa faces the east, the front part of his hand ), pitrya ( the right portion of the right hand ), brāhma ( the portion of the hand opposite the fingers ), prājāpatya ( the portion of the hand near the small finger ) and parameṣṭhya ( the centre of the right palm ). The Pār. gr. pariśiṣṭa names the above five, except that it substitutes the name āgneya for parameṣṭhya. The Śaṅkha-smṛti (in verse, X. 1–2) distinguishes kāya and prājāpatya and omits the name of brāhma altogether which is called prājāpatya by it. Vaik. I. 5 has six, the usual four, the fifth being āgneya ( centre of the palm ) and the sixth being ārṣa (the roots and tips of all fingers together). According to some, daiva tīrtha means the tips of the fingers and the centre of the palm is either saumya or āgneya. According to Hārīta the daiva ³⁹ tīrtha is to be used in mārjana, worship of gods, offering of bali and in bhojana; the kāya tīrtha is to be employed in lāja-homa ( homa of fried grain ) and daily homa, the pitrya in all rites for dead ancestorṣ Touching the kamaṇḍalu ( water jar ), eating curds and fresh products of the fields ( navānna ) are to be done with the saumya tīrtha ( Smṛtyarthasāra p. 20 ). When there is difficulty of getting water and an occasion for purifi-cation by ācamana arises, one should touch one's right ⁴⁰ ear. Very elaborate rules are laid down in the digests on the subject of ācamana ( e. g. Sṃ C. I. pp. 95-104 ), Smṛtimuktāphala, Āhnika-prakāśa pp. 221-240, Āhnika-tattva pp. 333-344. Gr. R. pp. 150-172 &c., which have to be all passed over for want of space. One matter to be noticed is that according to the Āpas-tamba-smṛti ( in verse ) the procedure of ācamana is of four kinds, viz. paurāṇika ( in which each sipping of water is accompanied by the names, Keśava, Nārāyaṇa, Mādhava &c. ); smārta ( as laid down in the smṛtis like Manu II. 60 ff ), āgama ( i. e. taught in the sacred books of Śaiva and Vaiṣṇava secta-rians ) and śrauta ( laid down in the Śrautasūtras for Vedic sacrifices ⁴¹ ). The first of these four is the method usually followed now by most brāhmaṇaṣ

Danta-dhāvana ( brushing the teeth ).

Danta-dhāvana comes after śauca and ācamana and before snāna ( bath ). Vide Yāj. I. 98 and Daksa II. 6. The practice of daily danta-dhāvana has existed in India from the most ancient timeṣ The Tai. S. ⁴² ( II. 5. 1. 7 ) when enumerating the actions which a rajasvalā ( a woman in her monthly period ) was to avoid mentions dantadhāvana among them and remarks that if she indulges in it during that period, she gives birth to a son whose teeth are naturally black. Dantadhāvana is an independent act by itself performed for rendering the body ( here the mouth ) clean and it is not an aṅga ( a subordinate constituent part) of bath or morning prayer.⁴³ Āp. Dh. S. I. 2. 8. 5 forbids⁴⁴ one who has returned from his teacher's home after finishing his studies to engage in the sight of his teacher in such acts of pleasure as cleansing the teeth, shampooing the body and combing the hair and also forbids the study of the Veda while such actions are going on ( ibid. I. 3. 11. 10–12 ).⁴⁵ The brahmacārin was not to engage in the leisurely actions of brushing the teeth (but was to rinse his mouth) according to Gaut. II. 19 and Vaṣ Dh. S. VII. 15.

In dantadhāvana one has to take the twig (with its bark) of certain trees, crush the end of the twig with his teeth so as to make a brush of it and then to cleanse his teeth with the brush-like enḍ According to Gobhilasmṛti⁴⁶ (which is also called Chandoga-pariśiṣṭa in some works) if a man only rinses his mouth with river water or at home, he has not to repeat a mantra, but if he uses a twig he has to repeat a mantra ‘Oh tree, bestow on me long life, strength, fame, brilliance, offspring, cattle, wealth, brahma (Veda), memory and intelligence.’ In the Pār. gr. II. 6 and Āp. gr. 12. 6 brushing of the teeth with an udumbara twig is prescribed in Samāvartana with a mantra ‘may you be ready for food; here comes the king Soma; may he clean my mouth with glory and good luck.’⁴⁷ Therefore the same mantra is to be employed every day after samāvartana. In some of the digests (like the Āhnikaprakāśa pp. 121-122) it is stated that that mantra may be employed by the students of the Śukla Yajurveda, while those who study the Gobhila gṛhya may use the mantra ‘āyurbalam &c’.

Very detailed rules are laid down about the length of the twig, about the trees the twigs of which are allowed or forbidden, about the days or occasions or times on which there is to be no dantadhāvana. A few of these details are given below. Trees having thorns on their trunk or from which a milky fluid oozes out when a twig is broken off are allowed and are vaṭa, asana, arka, khadira, karañja, badara, sarja, nimba, arimeda, apāmārga, mālatī, kakubha, bilva, āmra (mango), punnāga, śirīṣa and further the twig must be astringent, pungent or bitter in taste and not sweet or sour.⁴⁸ Vide Bṛhat-Saṃhitā of Varāhamihira chap. 85, Laghu-Hārīta (Jīvānanda part I. p. 183), Laghu-Vyāsa I. 17-18, Nṛsiṃhapurāṇa 58. 47. Before the advent of the modern dentrifrices people in India followed these directions and even now many even in the cities still follow them and brush their teeth with twigs of various treeṣ Among the trees which are not to be used for danta- dhāvana are palāśa,⁴⁹ śleṣmātaka, ariṣṭa, vibhītaka, dhava, bandhūka, nirguḍī, śigru, tilva, tinduka, iṅguḍa, guggulu, śāmi, pīlu, pippala, kovidāra &c. (Viṣṇu Dh. S. 61. 1–5). The twig may be undried or dried, but one dried on the tree itself is not to be taken (Viṣṇu Dh. S. 61. 8, Nṛsiṃhapurāṇa 58. 46 ). One must brush the teeth facing north or east, but not west or south (Viṣṇu Dh. S. 61. 12–13). Viṣṇu Dh. S. (61. 16–17) pres- cribes that the twig should be as big as the end of one’s small finger and twelve aṅgulas in length and it should be washed before its use and after using it it should not be cast off in an impure place. There are various opinions about the length of the twig employeḍ The Nṛsiṃhapurāṇa (58. 49. 50 ) says that it may be of eight aṅgulas in length or a span in length ( prādeśa ); Garga (quoted in Sṃ C. I. p. 105) says that the twig should be 10, 9, 8, 7 or 4 angulas in length respectively for the four varṇas and womeṇ One was not to cleanse one's teeth with pieces of brick or with clods of earth or with stones or with the bare fingers (except the thumb and the finger next to the small finger).⁵⁰

According to Laghu-Hārīta (Jīvānanda I. p. 183) and Nṛsim- hapurāṇa 58. 50-52 there is to be no brushing of the teeth with a twig on the 1st tithi, the parva tithis (i. e. new moon, full moon, 8th day, 14th day and the day on which the Sun enters a new zodiacal sign, according to Viṣṇu-purāṇa III. 11. 118), on the 6th tithi and 9th tithi and on those days when twigs are not avail- able one may rinse one's mouth with twelve mouthfuls of water⁵¹. Paithinasi (quoted in the Sṃ C. I. p. 106) says 'one may brush one's teeth with grass, leaves and water and with the fingers except the 4th finger.' One may also cleanse with mouthfuls of water when one has no teeth (Ābníka- prakāśa, p. 127). One may also rub one's tongue with these or with a twig on the days on which it is alloweḍ There is to be no dantadhāvana on śrāddha day (for the performer), on the day of a sacrifice, when one is observing niyama, when the husband has gone to another country, when there is indigestion, on marriage day, on a fast or a vrata (Smṛtyarthasāra p. 25), Viṣṇu⁵² Dh. S. 61. 16 prescribes dantadhāvana not only in the morning but also after taking one's meal. This, as stated by Devala, is intended for removing particles of food sticking to the teeth or the gumṣ

Snāna.—After dantadhāvana comes snāna. As ācamana, snāna (bath), japa (muttering of holy Vedic texts), homa and Ch. XVII ]

other rites are to be performed after holding kuśa grass in the right hand some remarks must be offered on kuśaṣ The Kūrmapurāṇa says 'whatever action is done without darbha or without yajñopavīta, it becomes useless and brings no reward here or in the next world' (quoted in Kṛtyaratnākara p. 47). Śātātapa ⁵³ says 'in japa, homa, dāna, svādhyāya (study of the Veda) or in pitṛtarpaṇa one should have in his hand gold, silver and kuśas'. One should have at the time of ācamana &c. a pavitra (a ring-like loop) of darbhas in his right hand or in both his hands on the finger next to the small one or have kuśa in his right hanḍ There were several views about wearing a pavitra or darbhas, as stated in note 1553. The darbha grass is to be collected on the darśa day (new moon) in the month of Śrāvaṇa and the darbhas so collected are never stale and may be used again and again ⁵⁴. The pavitra of the four varṇas should be made with 4 darbhas or with 3, 2, or 1 respectively or it should be made with two darbhas for all (Smṛtyarthasāra pp. 36-37). Those darbha blades from which no further blades shoot forth are called simply darbhas, blades from which fresh ones sprout forth are called kuśas, blades with their roots are called kuṭapas and those the tips of which are cut off are called tṛṇa ⁵⁵ (grass). The darbha grass growing in a field of sesame and having seven blades is very auspiciouṣ

The darbhas to be used in yajñas should be green in colour, yellowish for use in pākayajñas, they should be with roots when used in rites for the pitṛs and variegated when used in vaiśvadeva. Those darbhas that were held in the hand at the time of offering piṇḍas to the dead or in śrāddhas or in pitṛtarpaṇa or at the time of urination or voiding fæces should be thrown away (Smṛtyarthasāra p. 37). If kuśa grass is not available, then kāśa or dūrvā may be employed insteaḍ The subject of snāna can be treated from various points of view. Snāna⁵⁶ is either mukhya (principal) or gauṇa (secondary), the first being a bath with water and the second being without water. Each of these is again subdivided into various kindṣ According to Dakṣa II. 48 snāna is nitya (obligatory every day), naimittika (to be performed on certain occasions), and kāmya (to be performed only if one desires certain rewards). All the varṇas⁵⁷ have to bathe in or with water every day the whole body together with the head also (Bauḍ Dh. S. II. 4. 4, Manu II. 176 and IV. 82) and dvijātis have to do it with Vedic mantraṣ This is nitya. This⁵⁸ is required to be done, because a man who has not bathed is not entitled to perform homa, japa and other rites (Śaṅkha VIII. 2, Dakṣa II. 9). The body is dirty and from it ooze various exudations day and night and a bath in the morning cleanses and purifies the body. In this way snāna has been seen and unseen (i. e. spiritual) results⁵⁹.

Some works (Yāj. I. 95, 100, Laghu-Āśvalāyana I. 16, 75, Dakṣa II. 9 and 43 &c.), prescribe two baths a day for brāhmaṇa house-holders, one before day-break and another at nooṇ There is only one bath a day for brahmacārins, two for forest hermits (Manu VI. 6). According to Manu VI. 22 and Yāj. III. 48 the forest hermit has to bathe thrice (in the morning, at noon and in the evening) and a yati has also to bathe thrice⁶⁰. Though even now some orthodox brāhmaṇa householders do perform two baths a day, the usual rule for all Hindus (including even the so-called untouchables) is to bathe once a day, which also has been the general rule for centuries (vide Smṛtyarthasāra p. 26 'sarve vāpi sakṛt kuryur). Snāna is usually done now before noon, that in the early morning being done only by a yati, one observing a vrata, a brahmacārin, sacrificial priests, students of the Veda and those engaged in austerities (Smṛtyarthasāra p. 27 ). The morning bath is to be taken immediately after brushing the teeth before day-break when one sees the eastern direction lit up by the morning rays of the rising sun (Viṣṇu ⁶¹ Dh. S. 64. 8). Gobhila-smṛti (II. 21) says that ⁶² one should not lengthen out the process of taking the morning bath (by repeating too many mantras) as it would come in the way of performing the morning homa at the proper time, which is between the first appearance of light and the sun's reaching about one cubit above the eastern horizon (Gobhila I. 122-123 ). Vide Manu II. 15 also. The mādhyāhna (midday) bath is to be performed in the fourth part of the day-time divided into eight parts (Dakṣa II. 43, Laghu-Vyāsa II. 9) and one has to bring together loose earth, cow-dung, flowers, whole rice grains, kusas, sesame and sandalwood paste ⁶³. This midday bath is not to be performed by one who is ill. The third bath (in the case of forest hermits and yatis) is to be performed before sunset, but not after sun-set or at night. No bathing is allowed for any one at night except when there is an eclipse or the sun passes into the zodiacal signs of Cancer and Capri-corn (at night), a marriage, a birth or death or when a vrata is undertaken with some object ⁶⁴. Night means specially the two middle watches (Manu IV. 129, Kullūka thereon and Parāśara XII. 27 ). The obligatory (nitya) bath is to be taken with cold water and ordinarily hot water is not alloweḍ Śaṅkha (VIII. 9–10) says that if one bathes with heated water or in water belonging to an individual, he may effect the cleansing of the body but he would not secure the unseen spiritual result of a bath. Dakṣa II. 64 is to the same effect ⁶⁵. Naimittika and kāmya baths must be performed with cold water, there is an option only as to nitya (daily obligatory) bath (Garga quoted in the Sṃ C. I. p. 123).

Manu IV. 203, Viṣṇu Dh. S. 64. 1–2 and 15–16, Yāj. I. 159, Dakṣa II. 43, Veda-Vyāsa-smṛti III. 7–8, Śaṅkha VIII. 11 and others say that one must daily bathe in natural water, i. e. in rivers, in tanks connected with temples, in lakes, in deep reservoirs and in mountain springṣ One should not bathe in water belonging to an individual (i. e. a well or reservoir dug or dammed by him &c.) but if no water is other- wise available one may bathe with such water after re- moving three or five lumps of clay (from the bottom of the reservoir ⁶⁶) or three or five jars from the well. The idea is that either the private owner would participate in the merit of the bath (as Bauḍ Dh. S. II. 3. 7 remarks) or that the bather incurs a fourth part of the sin of the owner of the water (Manu IV. 201–202). If no such water is available or one is unable to go to a river &c. for a bath one may bathe in the court-yard of one’s house with water drawn in a vessel (from a well &c.) till his clothes are wetteḍ The words 'nadi' and 'garta' (used in Manu IV. 203 ) are defined as follows: a nadi (river) is one that has a stream of water at least 8000 bows in length, while all other streams are called garta (a pool). As in the months of Śrāvaṇa and Bhādrapada all rivers are full of mud (rajasvalā is used in a double sense) one should not bathe in them in those months, except in rivers that directly reach the sea.⁶⁷ But even in these months one may bathe in muddy rivers at the time of upākarma or utsarga, or on the death of a person or on the eclipse of the sun or the mooṇ Vide Viṣṇu Dh. S. 64. 17 which says that out of water drawn in a pot, water standing in a reservoir, a spring, a river, water in which noble men of the past bathed, Ganges water, each succeeding one is holier than each preceding one for a bath.⁶⁸

The actual bath is described differently in different sūtras, smṛtis and digestṣ Gobhila-smṛti (I. 137) says⁶⁹ that the morning bath contains the same procedure as the mid-day bath. The morning bath has to be brief, as already stated, in the case of one who has consecrated the śrauta fireṣ The Viṣṇu Dh. S. (64. 18–22) says 'having removed⁷⁰ the dirt from his body with water and loose earth, he should plunge in water, he should invoke the water with the three verses 'āpo hi sthā' (Rg. X. 9. 1-3), with the four verses 'hiraṇyavarṇāḥ' (Tai. S. V. 6. 1. 1-2) and with the verse 'idamāpaḥ pravahata' (Rg. I. 23. 22 or X. 9. 8). Then while still plunged in water he should thrice mutter the Aghamarṣaṇa hymn (Rg. X. 190. 1-3, ṛtam ca satyam &c.) or he may mutter 'tad viṣṇoḥ paramam padam' (Rg. I. 22. 20) or the Drupada Sāvitrī verse (Vāj. S. 20. 20) or the anuvāka beginning with 'yuñjate mana' (Rg. V. 81. 1-5) or the Puruṣasūkta (Rg. X. 90. 1-16). 'Having bathed he should, with his garment still wet, perform tarpaṇa of gods and Manes while still in the water. But if he has changed his clothes, then he may do it (tarpaṇa) after coming out of the water'. Even now many brāhmaṇas mutter the Puruṣasūkta while bathing. Śāṁkha-smṛti (IX) has a brief description of snāna which consists in invoking water, then mārjana with the three verses (āpo hi sthā), then repeating certain Vedic verses like 'hiraṇya-varṇāḥ', 'śam-no devīr', 'śam na āpaḥ' (Atharvaveda I. 6. 1 and 4) and thrice repeating Agha-marṣaṇa. Vide Madanapārijāta pp. 270-271, Gr. R. pp. 206-208 and Par. M. I. I. pp. 274-275 where the whole of Śāṁkha (IX) is quoteḍ The Snānasūtra⁷¹ of Kātyāyana says "Now then will be treated the daily obligatory bath in a river and the like. Having fetched loose earth, cowdung, sesame, kuśas and flowers, having approached the water side, having placed (the above) materials on a pure spot, having washed one's hands and feet, holding kuśa blades (or pavitra) in his hand, tying up his top knot and wearing the yajñopavīta, he should perform ācamana and invoke the water with the verse 'urum hi' (Rg. I. 24. 8 = Vāj. S. 8. 23), stir it (with his thumb) with the verses 'ye te śatam' (vide Par. gr. I. 2). He should fill his joined hands with water with the verse 'sumitriyā naḥ' (Vāj. S. VI. 22) and should cast it on the ground with the verse 'durmitriyā' (Vāj. S. VI. 22) in the direction of his enemy. He should apply loose earth thrice to each of the limbs, viz. the waist, the abdomen, thighs, feet and hands, then perform ācamana, should do obeisance to the water and should smear his body with loose earth. Facing the sun with the verse 'idam viṣṇur' (Rg. I. 22. 17 = Vāj. S. 5. 15), he should dive into the water and bathe with the verse 'āpo asmān' (Rg. X. 17. 10=Vāj. S. IV. 2), then raise up his body with the mantra 'ud-id-ābhyaḥ' (Vāj. S. IV. 2), again dip into water and again raise his head out of the water, perform ācamana and smear his body with cowdung with the mantra 'mā nastoke,' (Rg. I. 114. 1 = Vāj. S. 16. 16). Then he should bathe with the four mantras ‘ imam me Varuna ’ (Vāj. S. 21. 1-4), and with the verses ‘mā āpo’, ‘uduttamam’ (Vāj. S. 12. 12), ‘muñcantu’, (Rg. X. 97. 16 = Vāj. S. 12. 90), ‘avabhṛtha’ (Vāj. S. III. 48). At the end of these mantras he should dive into the water and then rise up out of it, perform ācamana and sprinkle with darbha blades his body with the nine verses, viz. the three beginning with ‘āpo hi ṣṭhā’ (Rg. X. 9. 1-3 = Vāj. S. 11. 50-52), ‘idam-āpaḥ’ (Vāj. S. VI. 17), with the two verses ‘haviṣmatīḥ’ (Vāj. S. VI. 23) and ‘devīrāpaḥ’ (Vāj. S. I. 12), ‘apo devāḥ’ (Vāj. S. X. 1), ‘drupādād-iva’ (Vāj. S. 20. 20), ‘śan-no devīr’ (Vāj. S. 35. 12), ‘apām rasam’ (Vāj. S. 9. 3), ‘āpo devīḥ’, and ‘punantu mā’. Then he should repeat thrice, while diving in water, the Aghamarṣaṇa hymn (Rg. X. 190. 1-3) preceded by the mantra ‘cit patir-mā’ (Vāj. S. 4. 4), by the syllable om, by the vyāhṛtis, by the Gāyatrī and followed by the same; or he may repeat the verse ‘drupādād-iva’ (Vāj. S. 20. 20) or the three verses ‘ayam gauḥ’ (Rg. X. 189. 1-3 = Vāj. S. 3. 6) or he should perform prāṇāyāma with the śiras (viz. āpo jyoti raso amṛtam brahma &c. cited above on p. 304 from Tai. Ā. X. 15 ) or he should repeat simply ‘om’ thrice or he should only contemplate on Viṣṇu. Having come out of the water, he should put on two washed garments, should wash his hands and thighs with loose earth, should perform ācamana and then prāṇāyāma thrice ".⁷²

Yogi-Yājñavalkya quoted by Aparārka and other works says that when a man is unable to perform the elaborate snāna described by himself and others, he should engage only in this; he should invoke the water, then perform ācamana, then mārjana (sprinkling water on body with kuśa blades) and then snāna and muttering of Aghamarṣaṇa (Rg. X. 190.1-3)⁷³ thrice. The Gṛ. R. (pp. 215-217) quotes the method of snāna according to the Padmapurāṇa and the Nṛsiṁhapurāṇa and remarks that the procedure in the Padmapurāṇa may be observed by all varṇas and by men following all the different Vedic schools (except the Vedic mantras in the case of śūdras). The Smṛtyarthasāra (p. 28) also gives a brief procedure of snāna. There are certain rules to be observed when bathing. One was not to bathe naked (Gaut. IX. 61 and Manu IV. 45), nor with all clothes on (but only with the lower garment) nor after taking one's meal (Manu 4. 29); one was not to rub the body in water but outside on the bank, one should not strike the water with one's foot or hand or dash a portion of the water against the rest.⁷⁴

The earth to be employed (like soap) for cleansing the body was to be obtained from a pure place and not from an⁷⁵ ant-hill or from places infested by mice, nor from under water, nor from the public road, nor from the bottom of a tree, nor from near temples, nor out of what was left by some person after using a portion for his own śauca and is to be invoked with two verses 'aśvakrān̉te⁷⁶ &c.' Laghu-Hārīta (v. 70-71 ) says 'earth secured after digging eight an̉gulas from the surface should be used, all earth is pure which is taken from a place not frequented by people and that ten kinds of earth should not be used at the time of bathing' (verses 72-73 ).

The brahmacārin was not to bathe in a leisurely or sporting manner but to dive in water motionless like a stick.

The Mahābhārata, Dakṣa and others say that ten good consequences follow from snāna viz. strength, beauty, clearness of complexion and voice, (pleasant) touch and odour (of the body), purity, prosperity, delicacy and fine womeṇ⁷⁷

Bathing with water is divided into six varieties by Śaṅkha smṛti (VIII. 1-11), Agnipurāṇa 155, 3-4 and others, viz. nitya, naimittika, kāmya, kriyāṅga, malāpakarṣaṇa (or abhyanga-snāna ), kriyāsnāna. Nitya snāna (daily bath) has been described above. A few observations are made below on each of the otherṣ On certain occasions or on coming in contact with certain persons or things one has to bathe, although one may have already bathed that day. This is called naimittika ( due to some occasion or cause ) snāna. For example, on the birth of a son, in a sacrifice (at the end), on the passing away of a relative, in eclipses, one has to bathe and even at night ⁷⁸ (Parāśara XII. 26 and Devala quoted above). Similarly a man has to bathe with all his clothes on if he touches an outcast (who is guilty of one of the mortal sins), a cāṇḍāla, a woman who has recently delivered, a woman in her monthly course, a corpse, or one who has touched a corpse or one who has touched another that has come in contact with a corpse or when a man follows a corpse ⁷⁹ (Gaut. 14. 28-29, Vaṣ 4. 38, Manu V. 85 and 103, Yaj. III. 30, Laghu-Āśvalāyana 20. 24 ). According to Manu V. 144, Śankha-smṛti VIII. 3, Mārk. purāṇa 34. 82-83, Brahmapurāṇa 113. 79, Parāśara XII. 28, if a man vomits or has many purges (ten or more), if he has a shave or has a bad dream, has had sexual intercourse, if he repairs to a cemetery, or is covered with smoke from a funeral pyre or touches a sacrificial post or a human bone, he has to undergo a bath to purify himself ⁸⁰. Āp. Dh. S. I. 5. 15. 16 prescribes a bath if a man is bitten by a dog and Gaut. 14. 30 prescribes it even for touching it. If a man touches Bauddhas, Pāśupatas, Jainas, Lokāyatıkas, atheists, dvijātis living by condemned actions and śūdras he should bathe with his clothes ⁸¹ oṇ The Mit. on Yaj. III. 30, the Sṃ C. I. pp. 117-119 and other digests speak of snāna being necessary on coming in contact with several birds (like the crow) and animals (like the cock and village hog), which are passed over for want of space. Kāmya-snāna⁸² (bath for some desired object) is that which is taken when one goes to a tīrtha (a sacred place) or when there is some astrological conjunction like the moon being in the constellation of pusya (vide Śaṅkhasmṛti VIII. 4) or when one bathes in the morning in the two months of Māgha and Phālguna for securing abundant pleasureṣ Vide Sṃ C. I. pp. 122-123 for numerous exampleṣ When a man has to take a bath as a part of the religious rite such as the rite of dedicating a well, a temple, a park to the public, that is called kriyāṅga-snāna⁸³ When a man applies oil to his body, uses myrobalans and engages in a bath solely for cleaning the body (and with no idea of performing an obligatory duty or securing religious merit) that is called malāpakarṣaka or abhyāṅga-snāna. The Sṃ C. I. p. 125, Aparārka pp. 195-196 and other works lay down elaborate rules about this snāna. One rule is that on certain tithis like parva (vide Manu IV 128 and Yaj I. 79 above on p. 204) there is to be no bath with oil &c. It is said that one desiring prosperity should use dried myrobalan (āmalaka) at the time of bath except on the 7th and 9th tithis and on parva dayṣ⁸⁴ Vide Vāmanapurāṇa 14. 49 ff. (quoted in Sṃ C. I, p. 125 ) for astrological ruleṣ When a man regards bathing at a sacred place the reward of his pilgrimage and engages in the procedure prescribed by Śaṅkhasmṛti IX. that is called kriyā-snāna.⁸⁵ A person who is ill may bathe with hot water or he may, if he cannot bear that, only wash his body except the head or his body may be rubbed with a wet piece of cloth. This last method is called kāpila-snāna.⁸⁶ There is another method where a man is ill and something happens on which it is absolutely necessary for him to bathe; in this case one who is not ill should touch him and then bathe himself and then again touch him and bathe; when this is repeated ten times the person who is ill is deemed to have become pure as if he had batheḍ⁸⁷ In the case of a woman in her monthly course, if on the fourth day she has high fever, she is not to be bathed, but another woman is to touch her and bathe with all her clothes on and perform ācamana and touch her and bathe again; this is to be carried out ten or twelve times and in the end the clothes worn by the ailing woman are to be taken off and new ones to be given to her and she becomes cleaṇ⁸⁸

The bath with water is called Vāruṇa (as Varuṇa is the lord of waters, according to Rg. VII. 49. 3 'yāsām rājā Varuṇo' &c.) and Vāruṇa is the principal kind of bath. There are six kinds of gauņa snānas which may be employed when one is either ill and so unable as to undergo a regular bath or when there is no time or room to take a regular bath. These six ( with Vāruṇa as the seventh ) are enumerated and defined in Yogayājñavalkya and other works and they are: mantrasnāna, bhauma, āgneya, vāyavya, divya, mānasa. Dakṣa II. 15-16 and Parāśara XII. 9-11 mention these except bhauma and mānasa and employ the word brāhma in place of mantrasnāna. The Vaik. gr. ( I. 2 and 5 ) employs both words 'mantra' and 'gurvānujñā' as synonymouṣ Garga and Bṛhaspati omit bhauma and mānasa and speak of sārasvata-snānu instead, which consists in the blessing pronounced by a learned man in the case of a dvijāti, or a pupil or his son 'may you have a bath with golden jars of Ganges water and of other sacred waters' ( vide Āhnika-prakāśa pp. 196–197). The mantrasnāna⁸⁹ consists in sprinkling water with the verses ‘āpo hi sthā’ (Rg. X. 9. 1-3), the bhauma (or pārthiva) in smearing the body with loose earth, āgneya in smearing the body with holy ashes, vāyavya in taking on the body the dust raised by the hoofs of cows, divya in wetting one’s body with a shower of rain accompanied with sunshine and mānasa in reflecting on God Viṣṇu.

Tarpana (offering water to gods, sages and Manes) is an an̄ga (a subsidiary constituent part) of snāna, just as it is an an̄ga in brahma-yajña. When a person plunges his whole body in water including the head, he has to perform tarpana while still standing in the water. Vide Manu II. 176, Viṣṇu Dh. S. 64. 23–24 (quoted above in ṇ1570), Parāśara XII. 12–13 for thiṣ He joins his two hands together, takes water in the joined hands and casts the water into the stream in which he is standing. If he changes his clothes, then he may perform the tarpana on the bank of the river. There was a difference of opinion about tarpana. Some said⁹⁰ that a man had to perform tarpana as an an̄ga of snāna immediately after it and before samdhyā prayer and then again the same day as an an̄ga of brahma-yajña; while others held that tarpana was to be performed only once in the day after samdhyā prayer. One has to perform tarpana according to the procedure prescribed in one’s śākhā (Vedic school) but Śankha prescribes a brief tarpana which consists in the words ‘may the universe from Brahmā down to a bunch of grass be satisfied’ (or satiated) and offering three an̄jalis (joined hands) of water. When he performs tarpana standing in water, he should not wring the water from the ends of his garment until he has finished it. He should then wring⁹¹ the ends of his garment and the water so falling down is deemed to be meant for the sonless deceased persons born in the family of the bather and he has to repeat a verse to that effect. Further details of tarpana are set out under brahmayajña below.

After one takes a bath one was not to shake one’s head (for getting rid of the water), nor should one rub off the water on one’s body with one’s hand or with the garment already worn by one; one has to cover one’s head with a turban (to dry the hair) and wear two fresh garments already washed and dried (Viṣṇu Dh. S. 64. 9–13 ).

What clothes the brahmacārin was to wear has already been stated (pp. 278–279). A few words must be said about the clothes to be worn by a householder.

Weaving and woven cloth are frequently referred to in the Veda, generally in a metaphorical sense or in simileṣ Vide Rg. I. 115. 4, II. 3. 6, V. 29. 15, X. 106. 1. In Rg. VI. 9. 2-3, both warp (tantu) and woof (otu) are mentioneḍ The words used for garment are ‘vāsaḥ’ or ‘vastra’. In the Tai. S. (VI. 1. 1. 3) it is said that kṣauma (linen) cloth is worn when a person takes the dīkṣā (initiatory rite) for a Vedic sacrifice. In the Kāṭhaka Saṃ XV. 1 kṣauma cloth is said to be the fee in a certain rite. In the Atharvaveda VIII. 2. 16 we have the two words ‘vāsaḥ’ (outer garment) and ‘nīvi’ (under garment)⁹² used with reference to the same maṇ In the Rg. the word ‘adhivāsa’ is also used with reference to a garment which must have been some-what like a mantle or toga (Rg. I. 162. 16). In the Tai. S. II. 4. 9. 2. the skin of the black deer is mentioneḍ In the Śat. Br. V. 2. 1. 8 it is said that when the Nestṛ⁹³ priest is about to lead up the sacrificer’s wife he makes her put on a kuśa upper garment (vāsaḥ) or a kuśa skirt next to the cloth that one who is initiated for the sacrifice wearṣ In the Br. Up. II. 3. 6. there ⁹⁴ is a reference to cloth dyed red with safflower or woollen cloth that is whitish in colour. Rg. IV. 22. 2 and Rg. V. 52. 9 are interpreted by Western scholars as referring to wool on the Paruṣṇī river being the best, but the sense is rather obscure. It appears from the above that cloth was either woollen or linen, that silken (or kuśa) cloth was worn on very solemn occasions, that deer-skin was also employed as covering and that cloth was also dyed reḍ Whether cotton cloth was known in the earliest Vedic period is not certaiṇ It is clear that in the sūtras (Viṣṇu Dh. S. 71. 15 and 63. 24) and in Manu (8. 326 and 12. 64 ) cotton cloth is known and so its use must have reached several centuries before the times of the sūtraṣ Arrian (tr. by MacCrindle) says that Indian dress was made of cotton (p. 219).

The Āp. Dh. S. (II. 2. 4. 22–23) requires that a householder should always wear an an upper garment (besides the lower one) but allows him to have only the sacred thread instead (if he be poor &c. ). Vaṣ Dh. S. XII. 14 says that snātakas (those who have returned from the stage of student-hood ) should always wear a lower garment and an upper one, two yajñopavitas &c. The Bauḍ Dh. S. I. 3. 2. says the same and adds that a snā- taka should wear a turban, a deer-skin as upper garment, shoes and have an umbrella. Aparārka (pp 133–134) quotes verses from Vyāghra and Yogayājñavalkya to the same effect, the latter remarking that if one cannot procure a second washed garment one may wear a blanket of wool, or hempen or linen cloth. Bauḍ Dh. S. (I. 6. 5–6, 10–11) says 'among garments'⁹⁵ the one that has not been worn is pure and therefore everything connected with sacrifice and worship should be done with fresh (or unblemi- shed) clotheṣ The sacrificer, his wife and the priests should wear garments that have been washed, dried in the wind and are not worn out by use ; but in sacrifices performed for abhicāra (harm to one's enemies) the priests should wear clothes and turbans dyed reḍ In consecrating the Vedic fires one should wear clothes made of flax or if they are not available cotton or woollen oneṣ Śabara on Jaimini X. 4. 13 quotes śruti passages to the effect that the sacrificer and his wife wear fresh unused clothes in the model sacrifice and in the Mahāvrata the sacrificer wears in addition a tārpya (silk garment) and his wife wears one made of kuśa grasṣ⁹⁶ Bauḍ Dh. S. II. 3. 66 requires that one must wear an upper garment in five acts viz. study of the Veda, dedication of a well or a tank &c. to the public, making gifts, taking one's meal or ācamana. Similarly the Viṣṇupurāṇa (III. 12. 20) requires that a man must not, with only one garment on, begin homa, the worship of gods and similar rites, study of the Veda, ācamana and japa.⁹⁷ Gaut. 9. 4-5, Āp. Dh. S. I. 11. 30. 10-13, Manu IV. 34-35, Yāj. I. 131 and others enjoin that a snātaka and a householder should wear white garments and they must not be worn out or dirty if he has enough (means) and should not wear dyed garments or garments of high price (or gaudy ones) or those worn by another.⁹⁸ Bauḍ Dh. S. II. 8. 24 remarks 'what a man, while wearing reddish garments, does such as japa, homa, receiving gifts, offerings made to gods and Manes, does not reach the godṣ'⁹⁹ Cloth dyed in indigo is also forbidden and a male has to undergo a fast and take pañcagavya for wearing such cloth. The Āpastamba smṛti (in verse) chap. VI has several verses on cloth dyed in indigo. The Mit. on Yāj. III. 292 quotes verses 1-5 of Āpastamba. Vide Aparārka p. 1186 for quotation of the same verses and also of Aṅgiras, verses 32-39 (which are almost the same as Āpastamba's). Gaut. 9. 5-7, Manu IV. 66, Viṣṇu Dh. S. 71. 47, Mārk. purāṇa¹⁰⁰ 34. 42-43 prescribe that one should not wear the shoes, garments yajñopavīta, ornament, garland, or water-jar used by another but if a man is unable to secure one for himself, he may wear another’s garment or shoes or garland after cleansing it. According to Garga quoted in the Sṃ C. (I. p. 113) a brāhmaṇa should wear white garments, a kṣatriya red and brilliant ones, a vaiśya yellow ones, a śūdra should wear a dark one that is dirty. The Mahābhārata says that one has to wear garments at the time of worshipping gods that are different from those that one wears while walking on a road or when one is in bed¹⁰¹. Prajāpati quoted by Par. M. states that in tarpaṇa one should wear silk cloth having a hem or one that is orange-coloured, but never one that is gaudy. Probably it is requirements like these that led to the practice of wearing silken garments at the time of meals and worship, which practice is observed even now in many parts of India. Manu IV. 18 and Viṣṇu Dh. S. 71. 5–6 prescribe that one must dress, speak and entertain thoughts that would be in keeping with one’s age, occupation, monetary affairs, learning, family and country. The garments to be worn by the vānaprastha and saṁnyāsin will be discussed below. The smṛtis contain rules about tucking up the lower garment. A garment should be tucked in three places i. e. when it is tucked near the navel, on the left side and behind on the back. A brāhmaṇa is said to be a śūdra as long as he has not tucked his garment behind or allows one corner of it to hang down from behind like a tail, or has tucked it in the wrong way or side, or has wound part of it round his waist or has covered the upper part of the body with a portion of the lower garment. Vide Sṃ M. (āhnika pp. 351-353) and Sṃ C. I. pp. 113-114 for these and other rules about wearing garmentṣ

After one bathes, one has to sip water (Dakṣa II. 20. ff) and make marks on his forehead (variously called tilaka, ūrdhvapuṇḍra, tripuṇḍra &c.) according to one’s caste or sect. In the Āhnikaprakāśa (pp. 248-252), in the Smṛtimuktāphala (āhnika pp. 292-310) elaborate rules are laid down on this subject. In the Brahmāṇḍapurāṇa¹⁰² it is stated that for making Ūrdhvapuṇḍra (vertical mark of a line or lines on the forehead) one may select earth from the top of mountains or from banks of holy rivers like the Indus and the Ganges, from places sacred to Viṣṇu, from ant-hills and from the root of the tulasi plant. The thumb, the middle finger and the finger next to the small finger are to be used in making the mark, but the nails should not come in contact with the earth employeḍ The mark may be of the form of a lamp and its wick, or of the form of bamboo leaves or a lotus bud, or of a fish or tortoise or a conch and the mark may be in length from two to ten fingerṣ The marks are to be made on the forehead, the chest, the throat and its pit, on the abdomen, the right and left sides, the arms, the ears, the back, the back of the neck, after taking the twelve names of Viṣṇu (viz. Keśava, Nārāyaṇa &c.) for each of the above twelve parts of the body. The tripuṇḍra mark (three oblique lines) is to be made with holy ashes (bhasman) and the tilaka with sandalwood paste.¹⁰³ According to the Brahmāṇḍapurāṇa, the ūrdhvapuṇḍra is made after a bath with loose earth in such a way that it resembles the outline of the foot (of Hari),¹⁰⁴ the tripuṇḍra with holy ashes after homa, and the tilaka (a circular mark) with sandalwood paste on worshipping gods (devapūjā). The Sṃ M. (āhnika p. 292) quotes Vāsudevopaniṣad for making the ūrdhvapuṇḍra mark on the forehead and other places with Gopicandana (magnesian or calcareous clay) or in its absence with earth from the roots of the tulasi plant. Sacrifice, gifts, japa, homa, study of the Veda, tarpaṇa of the Manes, if done without the ūrdhvapuṇḍra mark become fruitless (accordiṃ to Viṣṇu quoted in Sṃ M. āhnika p. 292 ). The Vṛddha-Hārita smṛti (II. 58-72) has a long note on ūrdhvapuṇḍra. The Sṃ M. (āhnika p. 296) notes that some texts of the Pāśupata and other Śaiva sectarians run down ūrdhvapuṇḍra and highly extol the tripuṇḍra mark, while Pāñcarātra texts enjoin the marking of the body with śaṅkha, cakra and other weapons of Viṣṇu and condemn tripuṇḍra. Devout worshippers of Viṣṇu who are followers of Madhvācārya brand the weapons of Viṣṇu such as the conch on their arms and bodies with heated metal pieces, just as early Christians stamped the cross on the forehead with red-hot iron (vide Wilson’s ‘Religious Sects of the Hindus’, vol. I. p. 42). Works like Vṛddha-Hārīta II. 44-45, the Pṛthvīcandrodaya condemn the practice of branding the body with marks of the conch &c. with red-hot iron as fit only for śūdraṣ The Smṛtyartha-sāgara of Chalārī quotes passages of the Vāyupurāṇa and Viṣṇupurāṇa supporting branding. In the Kālāgnirudropaniṣad the procedure¹⁰⁵ of the tripuṇḍra mark is laid dowṇ Holy ashes are taken from the sacred fire with the five mantras ‘sadyo jātam’ (Tai. Ār. 10. 43-47) and they are then invoked with the mantras ‘agniriti bhasma’; part of the ashes is then taken in the palm of one’s hand with the mantra ‘mā nastoke’, (Ṛg. I. 114. 8) and mixed with water and therewith lines are made on the head, the forehead up to the (middle of the) eyebrows and eyes, on the chest and shoulders, after repeating ‘tryāyuṣam Jamadagner’ when applying the ashes to the forehead, ‘kaśyapayasya tryāyuṣam’ when applying to the navel (or chest) and so on (the head coming last). The Sāṅkhyāyana gṛ. says¹⁰⁶ “He makes the tripuṇḍra mark with ashes with the five formulas ‘tryāyuṣam’ &c. on his forehead, chest, right and left shoulders and then on the back; (by doing this) he studies these Vedas, one, two, three or all.” The Smṛtimuktāphala¹⁰⁷ (āhnika p. 301) quotes a passage from Baudhāyana in which the words of the exhortation to the pupil returning home ‘bhūtyai na pramaditavyam’ occurring in the Tai. Up. I. 11 are interpreted as referring to the making of the tripuṇḍra mark with ashes (bhūti). This is a fine example of how sectarians twist the words of ancient texts to bolster up their practices and dogmaṣ In the Kādambari (para 34) Hārita is described as ornamented by the tripuṇḍra mark of asheṣ The Acāramayūkha quotes a verse from the Bhaviṣyapurāṇa ‘of him who does not bear the tripuṇḍra mark, truthfulness, śauca, japa, homa, pilgrimage and worship of gods—all this becomes futile’ and a verse from the Smṛtiratnāvali as to the parts of the body that are to be smeared with holy ashes, viz. the forehead, the region of the heart, navel, throat, shoulders, the joints of the arms, the back and the heaḍ The Smṛtimuktāphala (āhnika p. 310) gives the following sage advice to the Śaiva and Vaiṣṇava sectarian writers that were guilty of running down the practices of each other ‘As one God appears in the form of various deities, all should worship their (favourite) god, whether Śiva, Viṣṇu or any other, without indulging in the calumny of other deities and they should wear the puṇḍra mark that is deemed to be pleasing to any deity without calumniating other sect marks’.¹⁰⁸ The Nirṇayasindhu (II pariccheda) when dealing with the 11th day of Āṣāḍha sets out from the Rāmārcana-candrikā passages about the marking of the body with conch figure by means of heated metal pieces and also quotes the Pṛthvīcandrodāya and other works that condemn such practices and remarks that one may follow the śiṣṭas. The ācāraratna (p. 37 a) states that votaries are of various kinds, viz. Śaivas and Vaiṣṇavas who are purely followers of the Vedic cult, Śaivas and Vaiṣṇavas who follow both Vaidika and Tāntrika practices and the same two following purely the Tāntric cult.

After bath comes samdhyā (Yāj. I. 98). This subject has been dealt with above (pp. 312–321) under Upnayana.

After samdhyā comes homa (Dakṣa II. 28 and Yāj. I. 98–99). If a brāhmaṇa took a bath in the early morning and engaged in a lengthy samdhyā prayer he may not be able to perform homa in the morning at the proper time. Homa was performed in the morning before sunrise according to one view (anudite juhoti) and after sunrise, according to another (udite juhoti); but even on the latter view, homa must be performed before the sun rises one cubit above the horizon (Gobhila-smṛti I. 123)¹⁰⁹. The evening homa is to be performed at a time when the stars clearly appear in the sky and the ruddy colour has left the western horizon (Gobhila-smṛti I. 124 ). Āśv. Śr. II. 2 and Āśv. gr. I. 9. 5 state the time for morning homa to be up to the end of the period of saṅgava (i. e. the second of the five periods of day time). Therefore some said that in order to perform homa in time one may perform the morning samdhyā prayer even after homa,¹¹⁰ It has been shown above (p. 425 ) that the belief was that a man owed three debts one of which, viz. that to the gods, was discharged by performance of sacrifices and that a man had to perform agnihotra (fire worship) to the end of his life. The fire to be tended was either śrauta or smārta. As to the first there were certain ruleṣ Only a person that had attained a certain age was to kindle the śrauta fires, viz. one who had a son or had reached an age when he could have a son and whose hair was still black (i. e. who had not become middle-aged or old ). There were two views on the necessity of kindling the śrauta fireṣ Vaṣ Dh. S. XI. 45-48 ¹¹¹ says “a brāhmaṇa must necessarily kindle the three śrauta fires and offer (in them) the Darśa-Pūrṇamāsa (new moon and full moon sacrifices), the Āgrayaṇa iṣṭi, the Cāturmāsyas, the animal and soma sacrificeṣ For this is enjoined as an observance and has been lauded as a debt. For it is declared (in the Veda) 'a brāhmaṇa is born indebted in three debts, in sacrifice to the gods &c." Śābara on Jaimini V. 4. 16 expressly says that there is no particular time fixed for kindling the sacred fires and that a person may do so the very day on which the pious desire to do so arises in his mind ¹¹². The Trikāṇḍamaṇḍana I. 6-7 refers to the two views that ādhāna (kindling of śrauta fires) is nitya (obligatory) and the other view (discussed by Baudhāyana) that it is merely kāmya (to be performed only if one desires the fulfilment of certain objects). The person who had kindled the sacred fires offered his daily oblations in theṃ It is clear that even in very ancient times not many kindled the sacred Vedic fireṣ The Gṛhya and Dharma sūtras often contain rules referring to those who had kindled the sacred fires and to those who had not. For example, the Āśv. gr. I. 1. 4 quotes Ṛg. VIII. 19. 5 'the person who lays a fuel stick on fire, or throws an oblation on it or offers it the study of the Veda, or who pays adoration to Agni, (in substance) offers a good sacrifice.' Āśv. gr. then quotes a brāhmaṇa passage explaining ¹¹³ Ṛg. VIII. 19. 5 in which reliance is also placed on two more Ṛk verses (viz. Ṛg. VIII. 24. 20 and VI. 16. 47). The purpose of all this is to show that even the study of the Veda, the performing of namaskāra and offering of a samidh in the fire are equivalent to a real sacrifice. That shows that it was not obligatory on every-body to kindle the three sacred fireṣ But it must be said that agnihotra was highly thought of in ancient India. Vide Chāndogya Up. V. 24. 5 for a verse extolling it.

The three fires (often called Tretā) are the Āhavanīya, Gārhapatya and Dakṣiṇāgni. The Āhavanīya fire-place is a square, Gārhapatya is round (as the earth is round) and Dakṣiṇāgni is in the form of half the orb of the moon (vide Vṛddha-Gautama p. 604, Jīvānanda). In the Brāhmaṇas and Śrautasūtras elaborate discussions are held about the kindling of fires (agnyādhāna), about the several sacrifices and the various details connected therewith. It has been decided, in view of the vastness of the subject of śrauta rites and the academic nature for modern times of the treatment of most of those rites, to pass them over in this work and to give in a separate chapter at the end of this volume only some information about the śrauta sacrificeṣ For about two thousand years hardly any animal or soma sacri-fices have been performed (except rarely by kings, nobles and rich people). In medieval times there were many brāhmaṇas who performed the New and Full moon sacrifices, the Āgrayaṇa iṣṭi and the Cāturmāsyaṣ But in modern times even such agniho-trins have become very rare and in certain parts of India one can hardly find a single agnihotrin keeping śrauta fires even among thousands of brāhmaṇaṣ

Every one who has kindled ¹¹⁴ the sacred fires has to offer every morning and evening the Agnihotra ( oblations of clari-fied butter) in the śrauta fireṣ Not only has one who has consecrated the three sacred fires to offer agnihotra everyday, but also every householder has to do so every day twice, in the morning and in the evening. Vide Manu IV. 25, Yāj. I. 99, Āp. Dh. S. I. 4. 13. 22 and I. 4. 14. 1. 'For when a man is married, there are daily observances declared for him such as agnihotra, (honouring) guests and such other proper actions' (Āp. Dh. S. I. 4. 14. 1). The rules about the proper time of kindling fire and offering oblations and about the material of the oblations are the same for gṛhya rites as in śrauta agnihotra (Āśv. gṛ. I. 9. 4-6 ). The fire in which these daily offerings are made by one who has not kindled the three śrauta fires is called aupāsana, āvasathya, aupasada, vaivāhika or (-hana), smārta or gṛhya or sālāgni.¹¹⁵ There are various views about the time from which this fire is to be maintaineḍ The view of the vast majority of writers is that the gṛhya fire is the nuptial fire which is kindled on the day of marriage by the newly married pair. We saw above (pp. 530, 557) that the Āśv. gṛ. (I. 8. 5) directs that when the bridegroom starts after marriage from the bride's house for his own house (whether in the same village or in another village) the nuptial fire is continually carried in a vessel (called ukhā) in front till he reaches his house.¹¹⁶ Vide also Āp. gr. V. 14-15. The Āśv. gr. I. 9. 1-3 says 'beginning from the holding of the hand (i. e. marriage) he should worship the domestic fire himself or his wife, also his son or his daughter or pupil.¹¹⁷ The worship of fire should be constantly kept up'. A man's nuptial fire may go out and he may not re-instate it through neglect or other cause or his wife may be dead and he may remain a widower. In such cases he has to offer his daily offerings in the ordinary fire on which he cooks his food (laukika or pacana fire ); so that so far five kinds of fires (viz. the three śrauta ones, aupāsana or gṛhya and the laukika ) are spoken of. There is another fire called 'sabhya' (which is the sixth). According¹¹⁸ to Medhātithi on Manu III. 185 the sabhya fire is that which is kept burning in the hall of a rich man for the removal of cold and for the diffusion of warmth. Vide Śat. Br. (S. B. E. vol. 12, p. 302 n 1), where the translator says that the sabhya fire was kept only by kṣatriyaṣ The Kātyāyana Śrauta sūtra IV. 9. 20 prescribes that the sabhya fire also is generated by friction like the Gārhapatya fire. Āp. Śr. sūtra IV. 4. 7 says that the sabhya fire is to be kindled in the hall (of gambling, according to the coṃ) to the east of the place of the āhavanīya fire. The Smṛtyarthasāra (p. 14)¹¹⁹ says that a householder should maintain six fires, five, four, three, two or one, but should never remain without fire. When he keeps the tretā, aupāsana, sabhya and ordinary fire he will have six; when he maintains the tretā, aupāsana and sabhya he is called pañcāgni, who is among the brāhmaṇas that are paṅkti-pāvanas (i. e. that sanctify the company at dinner). Vide Gaut. 15. 29, Āp. Dh. S. II. 7. 17. 22, Vaṣ Dh. S. III. 19, Manu III. 185, Yāj. I. 221. He who maintains tretā and aupāsana will have only four, he who maintains only tretā will have three, he who maintains aupāsana and the ordinary fire will have two and one may only maintain the ordinary fire. The rites prescribed in¹²⁰ the gṛhyasūtra of a person's śākhā were to be performed in the aupāsana; other rites prescribed in the smṛtis were to be performed in the ordinary fire. But if one has no fire other than the ordinary one, every rite has to be performed in it. The under-lying idea of this emphasis on the worship of Agni seems to be that the oblations thrown into the fire reach the sun, that sends rain, from which springs corn, that is the sustenance of all beingṣ Vide Manu III. 76 (= Śāntiparva 264. 11) and Sṃ C. I. p. 155, Par. M. I, part I, p. 130 for the eulogy of agnihotra.

There were other views about the time from which one was to begin keeping one's gṛhya fire. Gaut. V. 6, Yāj. I. 97, Pār. gr. I. 2 and others refer to an optional course viz. setting up the gṛhya fire at the time when one separates from other members of the family. The Śāṅ. gr. I. 1. 2-5 refers to four alternatives in all (including the two already referred to); the other two are: When¹²¹ a pupil is about to return from his teacher's home, he may keep as his gṛhya fire that fire on which he puts the last samidh; or a person may, if he is the eldest son, keep the fire of his father on the latter's death or of his eldest brother on the latter's death (if there is no division and the family continues joint). Bauḍ gr. II. 6. 17 says¹²² that the gṛhya fire for a person is one by which his upanayana is performed, that from upanayana to samāvartana the homa is performed only by uttering the vyāhṛtis and with fuel sticks, from samāvartana to marriage with vyāhṛtis and clarified butter, and from marriage onwards with offerings of boiled rice or barley. The deities to whom agnihotra is offered in the morning and evening are Agni and Prajāpati ( to the latter inaudibly ). According to some in the morning the sun takes the place of Agni ( vide Bauḍ gr. II. 7. 21 quoted in ṇ ¹²² Hir. gr. I. 26. 9, Bhār. gr. III. 3, Āp. gr. VII. 21 ).

The oblations are to be made in the morning and evening of cooked food, but only such corn as is fit to be offered to fire as havis is to be used ( Āsv. gr. I. 2. 1). It is either boiled rice or barley ( Āp. gr. VII. 19 ).¹²³ Gobhila-smṛti (I. 131 and III. 114) says¹²⁴ that among haviṣyas the foremost are yavas ( barley ), then comes rice, but one should eschew māṣa, kodrava and gaura among corns even if nothing else is available, that if rice and barley are not available one may employ curds or milk or in their absence, yavāgū (gruel) or water. According to a verse quoted by Nārāyaṇa on Āśv. gr. I. 9. 6 ten materials can be offered as havis into fire viz. milk, curds, yavāgū, clarified butter, boiled rice, husked rice, soma, flesh, sesame oil and water.¹²⁵ Manu III, 257 specifies some articles as naturally fit for being employed as havis. Vide also Āp. Dh. S. II. 6. 15. 12–14. Though flesh is allowed as offering in some sacrifices it cannot be employed in the morning and evening homa ( vide Āśv. gr. I. 9. 6 ). The general rule is that when no particular material is specified for homa into fire, clarified butter is to be used as offering, and when no particular deity is mentioned, then the deity is to be Prajāpati ¹²⁶. There is another rule that fluid materials are to be offered into fire with the sruva ladle, while solid havis is to be offered with the right hand ¹²⁷. The Gobhila gr. (I.1.15-19) lays down that 'one is to kindle one's gṛhya fire (originally or if it goes out) by bringing it from the house of a vaiśya or from a frying pan or he may bring it from the house of a person who performs many sacrifices, whether he be a brāhmaṇa or rājanya or vaiśya or one may produce it by attrition; this last is holy, but does not bring prosperity. One may do as one likes¹²⁸. There are similar provisions in Śāṅ. gṛ. I. 1. 8, Pār. gṛ. I. 2, Āp. gṛ. V. 16-17. If the gṛhya fire goes out, the husband or the wife has to observe a fast that day as a penance (Āp. gṛ. V. 19).

The fire in which oblations are to be offered must be fed by plenty of dry wood, must be well kindled and smokeless, the cinders must be red-hot and it must be flaming up¹²⁹. The Chāṇ Up. V. 24. 1 indicates that oblations were to be offered only on red hot coalṣ The Mundaka Up. I. 2. 2 says the same. Āp. Dh. S. (I. 5. 15. 18–21), Manu IV. 53 and others lay down that one should not come very near fire when one is not pure, nor should one blow on fire with the mouth (to kindle it), nor should one place it under a cot &c., one should not throw anything impure in fire, nor should one warm one's feet over it, nor should one place it towards one's feet (when one is sleeping). Gobhilasmṛti I. 135-136 says that one should not blow on fire with the hand or a winnowing basket or a darvī (ladle), but one may use a fan; some blow on fire with the mouth because fire was produced from the mouth and construe the words (of Manu IV. 53) 'one should not blow on fire with the mouth' as applicable to ordinary fire (i. e. one may blow with the mouth on śrauta fires¹³⁰). The daily homa must be offered by the man himself and Daksa says that the merit secured by performing homa by oneself cannot be secured by getting it performed through another, but he adds that homa performed on one's behalf by a priest, by one's son, teacher, brother, sister's son, or son-in-law is equivalent to homa made by oneself.¹³¹ We saw above (ṇ 1617) that the Āśv. gr. (I. 9. 1) allows the wife, a son, an unmarried daughter or a pupil of the householder to attend to the worship of the householder's gṛhya fire. Śāṇ gr. II. 17. 3 is to the same effect. The Smṛtyarthasāra (p. 34) adds that the wife and the daughter should perform all the acts in homa except paryukṣaṇa. Āp. Dh. S. II. 6. 15. 15-16¹³² and Manu XI. 36-37 lay down that the wife, an unmarried daughter, a young married daughter, one who has studied little, a stupid person, a diseased person or one whose upanayana has not been performed should not offer agnihotra (on behalf of the householder); if they do so, they and he both fall into hell; therefore the person to offer agni-hotra for another should be one proficient in śrauta sacrifices and master of the Vedaṣ These passages have been explained by the Sṃ C. (I. p. 161) and other writers as applicable to the performance of śrauta sacrifices only; while as regards the daily homa in the gṛhya fire the wife and others specified by Āśv. are held to be competent if the sacrificer is ill or has gone abroaḍ Haradatta (on Āśv. gr. I. 9. 1-2) says that either the husband or the wife must always be near the gṛhya fire.¹³³ Laghu-Āśvalāyana (I. 69) says that one who has kindled the gṛhya fire should not leave the boundary of his village without his wife, as the texts lay down that homa is to be performed in the place where the wife stayṣ A brāhmaṇa¹³⁴ may go abroad on business, leaving his fire in charge of his wife and after appointing a priest; but he should not stay away long without cause. A priest should not offer homa on behalf of a householder, when both the spouses are absent, because such homa by him in the absence of both is uselesṣ¹⁶³⁵ If an householder has several wives of the same caste or wives of different castes, the texts lay down who is to be associated with him in religious riteṣ These rules have already been set out above (pp. 559-60). 'When a householder's wife dies he should not give up his Vedic fires, but that (i. e. the Agnihotra) should be performed till one's life by means of an upādhi (i. e. by marrying another savarna wife or by associating with himself an asavarna wife)' says Gobhila smṛti¹⁶³⁶ III. 9. Gobhila then refers to the story of Rāma, who performed sacrifices with a golden image of his discarded wife Sītā kept by his side. In spite of Gobhila's dictum, allowing a golden image or a kuśa representative of an absent or dead wife, Aparārka condemns the practice as opposed to the rule laid down by Satyāṣāḍha in his śrauta sūtra 'there¹⁶³⁷ is no pratinidhi (representative or substitute) in the case of the owner (i. e. yajamāna), the wife, the son, the (proper) place and time (for an act), fire, the deity (to be invoked), of a rite and of a text (directed to be employed in a rite).' His argument is that the wife's co-operation is required in such actions as looking at the clarified butter, in unhusking grains &c. and as an image of kuśa or gold cannot perform these acts, the image cannot be employed in place of the wife. The Sṃ C. replies to this argument by saying that the words of Satyāṣāḍha have reference only to a human substitute for a wife and that other smṛtis allow a substitute made of gold or kuśa. For example, Vṛddha-Hārita¹⁶³⁸ expressly prescribes that a man may perform agnihotra and the offering of the five daily sacrifices throughout his life in the company of his wife's image made of kuśa grass (if the wife be dead &c.). If a person loses his wife or if he goes abroad or becomes patita his agnihotra may be continued by his son¹³⁹ (Atri, verse 108). The Ait. Br. (32. 8) also says that even one who has lost his wife (or who has no wife) should perform agnihotra, as the Veda orders a man to offer sacrifice.¹⁴⁰

Not kindling Vedic fires when one was competent to do so and giving up śrauta and smārta fires were looked upon as upapātakas by Yāj. III. 234, 239, Viṣṇu Dh. S. 37. 28 and 54. 13. The Vaṣ Dh. S. III. 1 says¹⁴¹ that those who do not study or teach the Veda or who do not maintain the sacred fires become equal to śūdraṣ Gārgya as quoted in the Sṃ C. (I. p. 156) avers that if a dvija remains after marriage without fires even for a moment (when he has the power and authority to maintain them) he becomes a vrātya and patita. The Munḍaka Up. I. 2. 3 declares that if a person fails to perform the Darśa-Pūrṇamāsa and other sacrifices and Vaiśvadeva, his seven holy worlds are destroyeḍ The Tai. S. I. 5. 2. 1 and the Kāṭhaka S. IX. 2, declare 'He who makes the (sacred) fires go out (be extinguished) is indeed a killer of a hero in the eyes of the gods and brāhmaṇas who are anxiously devoted to ṛta (righteousness or correct order) did not formerly eat food at his house'.

The texts (such as Yāj. I. 99) prescribe japa (muttering of Gāyatrī and other holy Vedic mantras) as part of saṁdhyā adoratioṇ This has been already referred to above (p. 313). Yāj. I. 99 speaks of japa (of verses addressed to the Sun) after morning homa and then in I. 101 again prescribes japa after the midday bath of philosophical texts (like the Upaniṣads, as stated in Gaut. 19. 12 and Vaṣ Dh. S. 22. 9). Vaṣ Dh. S. 28. 10–15 are verses which mention several hymns principally of the Ṛgveda, by reciting which (inaudibly) several times a man becomes pure. These verses occur in Śaṅkhasmṛti chap. XI (with some variations) and in Viṣṇu Dh. S. 56 (in prose). Some of these Vedic texts are well known, such as Aghamarṣaṇa (Rg. X. 190. 1-3), Pāvamānī verses (Rg. IX), Śatarudriya (Tai. S. IV. 5. 1-11), Triṣuparṇa (Tai. Ār. X. 48-50) &c. Manu II. 87, Vaṣ 26. 11, Śaṅkhasmṛti XII. 28, Viṣṇu Dh. S. 55. 21 say that a brāhmaṇa attains the highest perfection by japa alone, even if he does not do anything else. Gobhila smṛti II. 17 says that one should inaudibly repeat as much of the Veda from the beginning as one can and that japa may be performed before tarpaṇa or after the morning homa or at the end of vaiśvadeva and that it constitutes brahmayajña (II. 28-29). Viṣṇu Dh. S. (64. 36-39) avers that japa should comprise sacred hymns, particularly the Gāyatrī and Puruṣasūkta, as nothing else is superior to these.¹⁴² Japa is of three kinds, vācika (audibly uttered), upāmśu (inaudibly uttered) and mānasa (mentally revolved), each succeeding one being ten times superior to each preceding one (Laghu-Hārita¹⁴³ chap. IV, p. 186, Jīvānanda I). Vide Manu II. 85 (= Vaṣ 26. 9, Śaṅkha XII. 29). Japa is one of the removers of sin (Gaut. 19. 11). Japa is to be performed sitting on a seat of kuśa grass, either in the house, or on a river bank, or in a cowpen, or in a fire room or at tīrthas or before images of gods or before an image of Viṣṇu, each succeeding place being many times superior to each preceding one.¹⁴⁴ One is not to speak while engaged in japa. A brahmacārī or a householder who has consecrated sacred fires should mutter the Gāyatrī 108 times, while a vānaprastha and yati should repeat it more than 1000 timeṣ Vide Manu II. 101 also about the extent of the time to be devoted to japa. When in the middle ages Vedic learning declined and Purāṇas came to the fore, the writers of the digests stated that one who has studied the whole Veda should repeat daily from the beginning of the Veda as much as he could; if one has studied only a portion of the Veda, then one should recite in his japa the Puruṣasūkta (Rg. X. 90) and similar hymns and a brāhmaṇa who knows only the Gāyatrī should repeat the texts of the purāṇaṣ¹⁴⁵ Vṛddha-Hārita (VI. 33, 45, 163, 213) prescribes that the mantra of 6 letters (om namo Viṣṇave), eight letters (om namo Vāsudevāya) or of twelve letters (om namo bhagavate Vāsudevāya) should be repeated 1008 or 108 timeṣ The counting of the mantra as repeated so many times has to be done by means of one's fingers (except the thumb) or by drawing lines (on the ground or walls &c.), or by telling the beads of a rosary, as japa without counting the number is fruitless ¹⁴⁶ Śāṅkha-smṛti (chap. XII. in prose) lays down that the rosary should have beads of gold or precious stones or pearls or crystal or rudrākṣa, padmā-kṣa (lotus seed) or putrajīvaka or a man may count by knots of kuśa grass or by bending the fingers of the left hanḍ¹⁴⁷ Bṛhat-Parāśara V. p. 85 and Laghu-Vyāsa (Jīvānanda part II. p. 375 ) contain similar provisions about akṣamālā and counting of japa. They add ‘indrākṣa’ to the different kinds of beadṣ The rosary should have 108 beads (this is the best) or 54 (middling) or 27 (this is the lowest number of beads in a rosary).¹⁴⁸ Kālidāsa (in his Raghuvaṃśa XI. 66) mentions that the hero Paraśurāma had on his right ear a rosary of akṣa seedṣ Bāṇa (Kādambarī para 37) speaks of counting by means of rings of rudrākṣaṣ Vide Sṃ C. I. pp. 152–153, Par. M. I. pp. 308–311, Madanapārijāta p. 80, Āhnikaprakāśa pp. 326–328 for further details about the rosary.

After homa and japa one may spend some time in attending to or looking at auspicious things, such as seeing one's elders, looking at a mirror or in clarified butter, arranging and decorating his hair, applying collyrium to the eye, touching dūrvā¹⁴⁹ &c. Vide Manu IV. 152 quoted above (p. 646). What objects a man should see on getting up has already been stated (p. 648). According to Nārada (prakīrṇaka vv. 54-55) there are eight maṅgala objects viz. a brāhmaṇa, a cow, fire, gold, clarified butter, the sun, water and the king and if one sees, bows to or circumambulates these, one's life is lengtheneḍ¹⁵⁰ The Vāmana-purāṇa (14. 35-37) mentions numerous objects that are auspicious and that one should touch or see before going out.¹⁵¹ The Matsyapurāṇa 243 enumerates in 26 verses numerous auspicious and inauspicious objects (these are quoted in Gr. R. pp. 553-554). Viṣṇu Dh. S. 23. 58 enumerates six objects derived from the cow as auspiciouṣ Vide Ādiparva 29. 34, Droṇaparva 127. 14 (for touching eight maṅgalas), Śānti 40. 7, Anuśāsana 126. 18 and 131. 8. According to the Viṣṇu Dh. S. 63. 26 one should start on a journey after seeing such objects as fire, a brāhmaṇa, hetaera, a jar full of water, a mirror, a banner, a parasol, palaces, fans, chowries &c. Viṣṇu Dh. S. 63. 27-31 states that when, on leaving one's house, one sees certain persons or objects one should return to the house and then restart viz. a drunkard, a lunatic, a cripple, one who has vomited or has undergone a purge, one who is completely shaved, one with dirty clothes, one having matted hair, a dwarf, one wearing orange-coloured clothes, an ascetic &c.

The performance of the duties of śauca, dantadhāvana, snāna, sandhyā, homa, japa would occupy the first of the eight parts of the day. In the second¹⁵² part of the day a brāhmaṇa householder was to go over and to revise his Vedic studies and to collect fuel sticks, flowers, kuśa &c. (Dakṣa II. 33, 35, Yāj. I. 99). This subject of Veda study has already been dealt with above (pp. 351-354). In the third part of the day the householder was to work and find out the means of maintaining those dependent on him ( Dakṣa II. 35 ). The different ways of maintaining oneself in the case of brāhmaṇas have already been spoken of above ( pp. 105-134 ). Gaut. IX. 63, Yāj. I. 100, Manu IV. 33, Viṣṇu 63. 1 and others say that a brāhmaṇa householder should approach a king or other rich person for the wherewithal to maintain his family. The persons whom every one must maintain have already been pointed out on p. 569 (Dakṣa II. 36 ). In the case of the well-to-do, there are other persons who should be maintained viz. agnates and cognates, one who is without means, helpless or has taken shelter ¹⁵³. In this world only that man may be said to live on whom many depend for their livelihood; other men who only fill their own belly are really dead, though living ( Dakṣa II. 40 ).

In the fourth part ¹⁵⁴ of the day ( i. e. before noon) one was to have the mid-day bath (with tarpaṇa) and then the mid-day saṃdhyā prayer and devapūjā &c. (Dakṣa II. 43 and Yāj. I. 100). Those who bathe twice (in the morning and at noon) will strictly follow the routine sketched above in Dakṣa, Yāj. and otherṣ But most of the brāhmaṇas bathe only once either in the morning or before nooṇ The principal matters to be described in connection with the bath before noon are tarpaṇa of gods, sages and pitṛs; devapūjā and the five daily yajñaṣ These will now be described in detail.

Tarpaṇa—( satiating by offering water ). As stated in Manu II. 176, every day one has to perform tarpaṇa of gods, sages and pitṛṣ The water to be offered to gods is poured by that part of the right hand which is called devatīrtha and that for the pitṛs by the pitṛ-tīrtha. A person was to perform tarpaṇa according to the gṛhyasūtra of the Vedic śākhā which he or his ancestors studieḍ There is a good deal of divergence among the several gṛhyasūtraṣ Here the procedure of tarpaṇa prescribed by the Āśv. gr. (III. 4. 1-5) will be first set out. In the Devatātarpaṇa the following deities are enumerated and one has to add the words 'trpyatu', 'trpyetām', or 'trpyantu' with each devatā according as it is one deity, two deities or more and offer water to each (e. g. 'Prajāpatis-trpyatu, Brahmā trpyatu, ..... Dyāvāprthivī trpyetām' &c.). The deities are 31 viz. Prajāpati, Brahmā, Vedas, devas, rṣis, all metres, oṁkāra, vaṣaṭkāra, vyāhṛtis, the Gāyatrī, sacrifices (yajñas), heaven and earth, the air (antarikṣa), days and nights, the Sāṅkhyas, siddhas, oceans, the rivers, the mountains, the fields, herbs, trees, Gandharvas and Apsarases, snakes, birds, cows, sādhyas, vipras, yakṣas, the rakṣases, the bhūtas (beings) that have these (rakṣas) at the enḍ In modern times the fields, herbs, trees, Gandharvas and Apsarases are put in one compound word and form only one devatā, while after bhūtas there is a separate deity 'evam-antāni trpyantu'. Haradatta on Āśv. gr. III. 3. 2 refers to the view of some that take 'evam-antāni' as a separate mantra but his opinion was that the phrase 'evam-antāni' only described the preceding devatās and that the devatās stopped at 'rakṣāmsi'. He further adds that the tarpaṇa to these was done by the prājāpatya tīrtha (of the hand).

The sages to whom water is offered are divided into two groupṣ The first group contains twelve sages and when offering water to these the sacred thread is worn in the nivīta forṃ The twelve sages are those of the hundred ṛks, the middle ṛṣis (i. e. of maṇḍalas 2 to 9 of the Ṛgveda), Gṛtsamada, Viśvāmitra, Vāmadeva, Atri, Bharadvāja, Vasiṣṭha, Pragāthas, the Pāvamānī hymns, sages of the short hymns and those of the long hymns (the tarpaṇa formula will be 'śatarcīnas-trpyantu, mādhyamās-trpyantu, Gṛtsamadas-trpyantu &c.). It will be noticed that the sages from Gṛtsamada to Vasiṣṭha are the seers of maṇḍalas 2 to 7 of the Ṛgveda. The Pragāthas stand for the eighth maṇḍala of which the first hymn is ascribed in the Anukramaṇī to Pragātha of the Kaṇva gotra and the rest of the eighth maṇḍala is ascribed to various scions of the Kaṇva gotra. The verses of the ninth maṇḍala are called Pāvamānyaḥ; but as it is a tarpaṇa of sages, we rather expect the form pāva-mānāḥ as in the Sāṅkhyāyana gṛhya IV. 10. 'Śatarcinaḥ' refers to the sages of the first maṇḍala, and 'kṣudrasūktāḥ' and 'mahāsūktāḥ' to sages of the tenth maṇḍala. Water is offered to these sages by the daiva tīrtha. Then there is a second group of sages to whom water is offered by a person who wears his sacred thread in the prācīnāvīta form (i. e. it is suspended over the right shoulder and under the left arm). There are two sub-groups here. In the first the verbal forms ‘trpyantu’ or ‘trpyatu’ are used with the nominative of the words for the sage; i. e. ‘Sumantu-Jaimini-Vaiśampāyana-Paila-sūtra-bhāṣya-Bhārata-Mahābhā- rata-Dharmācāryās trpyantu’ ; ¹⁵⁵ ‘Jānanti-Bāhavi-Gārgya-Gau- tama-Śākalya-Bābhravya-Māṇḍavya-Māṇḍūkeyās trpyantu’; ‘Gārgi-Vācaknavī trpyatu, Vadavā-Prātitheyī trpyatu, Sula- bhā-Maitreyī trpyatu’. These together are five sentenceṣ It is remarkable that in this list three women are mentioned as sages (Gārgī, Vadavā and Sulabhā ). Among the other sages the first four are frequently mentioned in the Mahābhārata as the pupils of Vyāsa who taught them the Vedas (vide Sabhāparva 4. 11 and Śānti 328. 26–27 where all four are named ). For chronological purposes it is important to note that the Āśv. gr. knew teachers of sūtras, bhāṣyas, of the Bhārata and also the Mahābhārata and of Dharma. In the second sub-group there are 17 single sages and the 18th is a miscellaneous offering to all other ācāryaṣ The names of the 17 sages occur in the accusative and after each the word ‘tarpayāmi’ is to be uttered (i. e. Kaholam tarpayāmi, Kauśi- takam tarpayāmi.....Āśvalāyanam tarpayāmi). These 17 sages are: Kahola, Kauśītaka, Mahākauśītaka, Paiṅgya, Mahāpaiṅgya, Suyajña, Śāñkhyāyana, Aitāreya, Mahaitāreya, Śākala, Bāṣkala, Sujātavaktra, Audavāhi, Mahauḍavāhi, Saujāmi, Śaunaka, Āśvalāyana. The 18th is ‘may all the other ācāryas be satiated’ (ye cānye ācāryās-te sarve trpyantu). All these sages are connected with the Ṛgveda, its Brāhmaṇas, its Āraṇyakas and other related works like the Prātiśākhya sūtra (of which Śaunaka is said to be the author). It is interesting to note that Āśvalāyana himself is named as the last teacher in tarpaṇa. Śaunaka is said to be the teacher of Āśvalāyana. ¹⁵⁶ In modern times in the Deocan water is offered twice to each sage or group of sageṣ

Āśv. gr. III. 4. 5 is very brief as to pitṛtarpaṇa ‘after satiat- ing the pitṛs with water, each generation separately, he returns to his house and whatever he gives then becomes the fee’ (of the Brahmayajña of which tarpaṇa is a constituent part). In modern times the deceased ancestors and relatives to whom water is offered are stated below. Water is offered to each thrice (except to women ancestors other than the mother, grand-mother and the great-grandmother) by the pitṛ-tīrtha and the relationship, the gotra and the name of each are recited when doing so. For example, water is offered to the deceased father in the form, ‘I offer svadhā and bow to and satiate my father, so and so by name, whose gotra was so and so and who has attained the form of Vasu’ (asmatpitāram amukaśarmāṇam amuka-gotram vasurūpam svadhanāmas tarpayāmi). The ances-tors and relatives to whom water is offered, if they are dead, are in order :—father, paternal grandfather and great-grandfather; mother, paternal grand-mother and great-grand-mother; step-mother; maternal grand-father (with maternal grand-mother, sapatnīkam being used with ‘mātāmaham’), maternal great-grand-father and maternal great-great-grand-father (with their wives); one’s wife; one’s son (or sons, if several are dead already and with his wife or their wives that are dead); daughter (with her husband, if both are dead); uncle (with his wife, if dead); maternal uncle (with his wife, if dead); brother (with wife); paternal aunt (with husband); maternal aunt (with husband); sister (with husband); father-in-law (with his wife and son, if they are dead); guru (father as teacher of the Gāyatrī and Veda); pupil. In the case of grand-fathers and grand-mothers they are described as ‘rudrarūpa’ and the great-grand-fathers and great-grand-mothers as ‘ādityarūpa’. The three ancestors of the mother with their wives are respectively vasurūpa, rudrarūpa and ādityarūpa¹⁵⁷. The names of women ancestors have the affix ‘dā’ added and all persons both male and female other than those specified above are described as ‘vasurūpa’.

A few points of divergence will be noticeḍ Haradatta on Āśv. gr. III. 3. 6 notes that some do not include the mother and maternal relations in the daily tarpaṇa, and that according to the established practice in his day the tarpaṇa formulæ did not include the names and the gotra of the relativeṣ Most sūtras do not say that the names and gotras of the relatives are to be repeated in daily tarpaṇa. The words 'svadhā namas' do not occur in many sūtras, but some do contain them (e. g. Bauḍ Dh. S. II. 5. 184 ff., Vaik. I. 4). The devatās of tarpaṇa differ in each sūtra. The Sāṇ gr. (IV. 9) which belongs to the Ṛgveda just as Āśvalāyana's does, enumerates the deities differently in the beginning (it has Agni, Vāyu, Sūrya, Viṣṇu, Prajāpati, Virūpākṣa, Sahasrākṣa &c.). Its order of sages is somewhat different and it adds some names such as Sākapūṇi, Gautami &c. The Bauḍ Dh. S. II. 5 contains the most elaborate tarpaṇa of all sūtraṣ It puts 'om' before each devatā, ṛṣi and pitṛ. It includes not only many more deities than elsewhere, but includes several names of the same deity (e. g. Vināyaka, Vakratuṇḍa, Hasti- mukha, Ekadanta; Yama, Yamarāja, Dharma, Dharmarāja, kāla, Nīla, Vaivasvata &c.). Among ṛṣis it includes many sūtrakāras like Kaṇva, Baudhāyana, Āpastamba, Satyāṣaḍha, and also Yājñavalkya, Vyāsa. The Hir. gr. II. 19. 20, Bauḍ gr. III. 9, Bhāradvāja gr. III. 9–11 contain long and interesting lists of deities and particularly of sageṣ

If a man has no time for this lengthy tarpaṇa the Dharma- sindhu and other digests prescribe an extremely brief one, viz. he repeats two verses and offers water thrice. The verses are ‘may the gods, sages, pitṛs, human beings, from Brahmā up to a blade of grass, be satiated and also all the pitṛs, the mother and the maternal grand-father and the rest may this water mixed with sesame be for the crores of families of bygone ages residing in the seven dvīpas from the world of Brahmā downwards’.

The Snānasūtra (3rd kaṇḍikā) of Kātyāyana attached to the Pār. gr. contains a description of tarpaṇa. Like the Bauḍ Dh. S. it lays down that 'om' is to be uttered before the name of every deity (devatā) and 'tṛpyatām' (or tṛpyantām if the word denoting the deity is in the plural) is the verbal form employeḍ The deities are only 28 and slightly differ from those of Āśv. The group of sages is made up of only Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanātana, Kapila, Āsuri, Vodhu, and Pañcaśikha (Kapila, Āsuri and Pañcaśikha are according to the Sānkhya- kārikā the names of the founders of the Sānkhya philosophy and stand in the relation of teacher and pupil). Then (after the ṛṣitarpaṇa), the householder is to mix sesame in water and wear the sacred thread under the left arm and suspend it from the right shoulder and offer the water to Kavyavāḍ Anala (fire), Soma, Yama, Aryaman, Agnisvāttas, Somapas, Barhi- says ¹⁵⁸. Offerings of water mixed with sesame are to be made thrice to each of the above with joined hands (jalāñjali) and this is to be done by all householders oven if the father be living. The remaining part of tarpana (viz. pitṛtarpaṇa) is to be done only by him whose father is deaḍ Gobhila-smṛti II. 18–20, Matsyapurāṇa 102. 14–21 are very similar to the Snāna- sūtra. According to Āśvalāyana and others water is offered with the right hand only while according to Kātyāyana and others water is offered with both handṣ ¹⁵⁹ The Sṃ C. I. p. 191 says that the householder should follow his gṛhyasūtra and if there is nothing in it on this point there is an optioṇ Kārṣṇājini pre- scribes that in śrāddha and marriage only the right hand is employed in making an offering or gift, but in tarpaṇa both hands (made into an añjali) are employeḍ One ¹⁶⁰ añjali of water is offered to each of the gods, two to Sanaka and other sages and three to each of the pitṛṣ When tarpana is performed while the householder is still in the water with his wet clothes on, he offers the water in the stream itself; but when he wears dry clothes and performs tarpana, then he is to let fall the handfuls of water in a pure vessel of gold, silver, copper, bronze, but not in an earthen one; or he may let the water fall on the ground covered with kuśas (Sṃ C. I. p. 192). There were several views on this point (vide Gr. R. pp. 263-264). In modern times daily tarpana has become very rare. Only a few even among the orthodox or priestly brāhmaṇas and among those who have studied the several śāstras (such as grammar &c.) do it daily, but generally most brāhmaṇas perform tarpaṇa as part of brahmayajña on one day in the year in the month of Śrāvaṇa.

A special tarpaṇa was offered to Yama on the 14th of the dark half of a month if it was a Tuesday or on the 14th of the dark half. Vide Sṃ C. I. pp. 197–198, Madanapārijāta p. 296, Par. M. I. part 1, p. 361. Dakṣa (II. 52–55) prescribes that Yama-tarpaṇa is specially performed in the Jumna on the days specified above and gives the several names under which Yama is invokeḍ Vide also Matsyapurāṇa 213. 2–8. The Tai. Ār. VI. 5 speaks of a yajña or bali (offering) in honour of Yama every month. There is also tarpaṇa in honour of the great epic hero Bhīṣma offered on the 8th of the bright half of Māgha. Vide Sṃ C. I. p. 193.

Gobhila-smṛti ¹⁶¹ (II. 22–23) emphasizes the importance of tarpaṇa by remarking that, as all beings, animate or inanimate, desire water from the brāhmaṇa who brings prosperity to all, tarpaṇa should always be done by him and that if he does not do it he would incur great sin and that would support this worlḍ The idea underlying tarpaṇa seems to be indicated even by the Tai. S. V. 4. 4. 1.¹⁶²

It has already been seen ( at pp. 668–669 ) that tarpaṇa was prescribed as an appendage of the early morning bath and that some required it to be done twice daily while others said that it was to be done only once. As Āśv. gr. places tarpaṇa immediately after svādhyāya (or brahmayajña) it follows that he treated it as a constituent though subordinate part of it. The Gobhilasmṛti (II. 29) says that brahmayajña which consists in inaudibly muttering Vedic texts (japa) should be performed before tarpaṇa or after the morning homa or at the end of Vaiśvadeva and at no other time unless there is some special reasoṇ¹⁶³

The Āhnikaprakāśa (pp. 336–377) gives summaries of tar- paṇa according to Kātyāyana, Śaṅkha, Baudhāyana, Viṣṇu- purāṇa, Yogiyājñavalkya, Āśvalāyana, Gobhilagṛhya.