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PÂRASKARA-GRIHYA-SÛTRA.

INTRODUCTION

TO THE

PÂRASKARA-GRIHYA-SÛTRA.

THE Grihya-sûtra of Pâraskara, which belongs to the White Yagur-veda and forms an appendix to Kâtyâyana's Srauta-sûtra, has been edited, with a German translation, by the scholar who was the first to make a Grihya text accessible to Orientalists and to begin to grapple with the first and most serious difficulties that beset its interpretation, and who has continued since to do more than anyone else towards elucidating that important branch of Vedic literature. It would be very unbecoming in any one engaged in the study of Grihya texts, not to acknowledge most warmly the debt of gratitude which he owes to Professor Stenzler. At the same time the respect due to the veteran editor and interpreter of Âsvalâyana and Pâraskara not only allows, but requires that one who proposes to himself the same task at which Prof. Stenzler has worked with so much learning, should state as clearly as possible what that distinguished scholar has left for others to do, and why one who prepares an English translation of Pâraskara has a very different task from merely translating into English the German translation of Prof. Stenzler.

If I may venture to express in one word the difference between Prof. Stenzler's method, as I understand it, for getting at the meaning of a doubtful or obscure passage, and the method which I have endeavoured to follow, I should say that with Prof. Stenzler the first step and,

1, 'not that I ever despise the traditional interpretation which the commentators have preserved to us, but because I think that, after having examined it, we have a right to judge for ourselves.' There exists a commentary on the Pâraskara-Grihya which far surpasses in trustworthiness Gayarâma's Sagganavallabha and Râmakrishna's Samskâraganapati, and which is not composed by an author who, as says Goethe,

—im Auslegen ist munter;
Legt er nicht aus, so legt er unter.

1.

It seems evident that the Âkâryas to whom the opinion spoken of in Sûtra 5 belongs, add, or perhaps substitute, to the fetching of the fire which is to be worshipped as the sacrificer's domestic fire, from a rich Vaisya's house, another rite in which an arani, i.e. a stick for kindling the fire by attrition, is made use of in some way or other.

Now if this may be accepted as a vague expression of the general purport of the Sûtra, what is the literal meaning of the words? 'Some (teachers),' it says, '(prescribe) the pradâna of the kindling stick (or, of the kindling sticks).'

What does pradâna mean? Gayarâma says,

'prasabda upasabdârthe. aranyupâdânakam eka âkâryâ ikkhanti.'

1.'

Thus, if Gayarâma is right, Prof. Stenzler's translation would be justified. But can we acquiesce indeed in simply accepting the commentator's opinion? Pradâna is pradâna and not upâdâna, as pradadâti is not upâdatte. Pradadâti means 'he hands over,' and pradâna 'the handing over.' This is an established fact, and an interpreter of a Vedic text should not allow himself to be induced by a statement like that of Gayarâma about the preposition pra standing in the sense of upa, to abate one iota of it. Thus we are obliged, until passages have been discovered which modify our knowledge of what pradâna means—but such passages most certainly will never be discovered—to translate:

5. Some (teachers say that) the handing over of the kindling sticks (takes place).

We should give that translation even if we were not able to find an explanation for it. It appears that Prof. Stenzler, as far as we can judge from his note, has not even thought of the possibility of disregarding the authority of Gayarâma and Râmakrishna, or of looking through the parallel texts to see whether they do not throw light on what that 'handing over of the kindling sticks' signifies. The text to be consulted first is of course Kâtyâyana's Srauta-sûtra. As the Srauta ritual contains a description of an âdhâna which is in some way the prototype of the corresponding Grihya ceremony, we may possibly expect to discover, in the course of that description, the statements regarding the arani-pradâna for which we are searching. Now Kâtyâyana 2, having described the setting up of the fire in the gârhapatyâgâra, states that at sunset the sacrificer and his

1. The Paddhati, in describing that act, goes into further details. The Adhvaryu hands over to the sacrificer the two Aranis, which, as required by custom, are wrapped up in new clothes. The wife takes the adharârani from his hand and puts it on her lap; the sacrificer puts the uttarârani on his lap, and they do homage to them with flowers, saffron, sandal wood, &c.; then, after the performance of some other ceremonies, they put the two Aranis away on a chair or bench. The two Aranis have to be kept by the sacrificer; if they are lost or burnt or destroyed in any other way, other Aranis must be procured, and by their attrition a new fire must be kindled 2.

Âpastamba likewise mentions, in his description of the Agnyâdhâna 3, the handing over of the two Aranis, and indicates a Mantra which the Adhvaryu recites in giving them to the sacrificer, and two other Mantras with the one of which the sacrificer receives them, while he recites the other over the Aranis, after having taken them into his hands.

Finally we may quote here, as bearing witness to the custom of the Aranipradâna, a passage taken from Nârâyana's commentary on the Sâṅkhâyana-Grihya. Though the decisive words in that passage rest only on the authority of the commentator and not of the Sûtrakâra himself, they deserve to be taken notice of, as they are not subject to the suspicion that they could be influenced by a misunderstanding of that very Sûtra of Pâraskara of which we are treating. Nârâyana says, in his explanation of Sâṅkhâyana I, 1, 10 4: 'To the west of the fire the sacrificer, and southwards (of him) the wife sits down. The

1.' Then the commentator goes on to quote a Sloka:

'The handing over of the Aranis which the Adhvaryu sometimes performs,

'Is not in accordance with the opinion of Suyagña 2; he does not approve of kindling the fire by attrition 3:

Thus, I think, no doubt can remain as to the real meaning of Pâraskara's Sûtra: it means what its words signify and what is in accordance with Kâtyâyana and Âpastamba, and it does not mean what the commentators most gratuitously would make it mean.

Perhaps I have dwelt here too long on the interpretation of a few words which are of no peculiar interest in themselves. But I venture to hope that the discussion on these words will serve as a specimen, by which the fundamental difference of two methods of handling our texts may be discerned. Let us never forget how much we owe to the scholars who have followed the first of these methods, but for ourselves let us choose the second.

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Footnotes

264:1 Sacred Books of the East, vol. xv, p. 2, note 2.

265:1 The food which is eaten by the four chief officiating priests of the Srauta ritual. For these priests a mess of food is prepared at the ceremony of the âdhâna of the Srauta fires.

266:1 Râmakrishna also, according to Prof. Stenzler's note, explains pradâna by upâdâna, kârana, utpattisthâna.

266:2 IV, 7, 55 seqq. The corresponding passage of the Paddhati is found at p. 358 of Prof. Weber's edition.

267:1 IV, 7, 22: asvatthasamîgarbhâranî prayakkhati.

267:2 See the commentary on IV, 7, 22, and the passages of the Karmapradîpa quoted there.

267:3 Srauta-sûtra V, 8, 7; vol. i, p. 255, of Prof. Garbe's edition.

267:4 Sâyamâhutisamskâro268:1 Agneh paskâd yagamâno dakshinatah patnî ka upavisati. aranipradânam na kartavyam. âhritasyâgner eva samskârah.

268:2 On this name of Sâṅkhâyana, see my Introduction to the translation of the Sâṅkhâyana-Grihya, above, p. 3.

268:3

Atrâranipradânam yad adhvaryuh kurute kvakit,
matam tan na Suyagñasya mathitam so