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PRASNA II, ADHYÂYA 5, KANDIKÂ 8.

1. Now, after washing his hands, he shall take his waterpot and a clod of earth, go to a (sacred) bathing-place and thrice clean his feet (with earth and water) and thrice his body. 1

2. Now some say, 'One must not enter a burial-ground, water, a temple, a cowpen, nor a place where Brâhmanas (sit) without having cleaned one's feet.'

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3. Then he enters the water, (reciting the following verse): 'I take refuge with gold-horned Varuna, give me at my request (O Varuna) a purifying bathing-place. May Indra, Varuna, Brihaspati, and Savitri again and again cleanse me from all sin which I have committed by eating the food of unholy men, by receiving gifts from the wicked, and from all evil which I have done by thoughts, speeches, or deeds.' 3

4. Then he takes up water in his joined hands, (saying), 'May the waters and the herbs be propitious to us.' 4

5. (Next) he pours (the water) out in that direction in which an enemy of his dwells, (saying), 'May they work woe to him who hates us and whom we hate.' 5

6. Then he sips water, and thrice makes the water eddy around himself turning from the left to the right (and saying), 'May that which is hurtful, which is impure, and which is inauspicious in the water be removed.' 6

7. After having submerged himself and having emerged from the water, 7

8. (Acts of) personal purification, washing the clothes by beating them on a stone and sipping 8

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water are not (permitted to the worshipper) as long as he is in the water.

9. If (the water used for bathing) has been (taken from a) confined (place, such as a well), he worships it with the following (Mantra): 'Adoration to Agni, the lord of the waters; adoration to Indra; adoration to Varuna; adoration to Vârunî; adoration to the waters.' 9

10. After having ascended the bank and having sipped water, let him again sip water, though he has done so before, (and recite the following Mantras) 'May water purify the earth, may the purified earth purify me, may Brahmanaspati (and) Brahman purify, may the purified (earth) purify me. May water purify me, (taking away) all (the guilt which I incurred by eating) remnants of food, and forbidden food, (by committing) evil deeds, (by) receiving gifts from wicked men, Svâhâ!' 10

11. Making two Pavitras he rubs (his body) with water. Having rubbed himself, (reciting the) three (verses), 'Ye waters are,' &c., the four (verses), 'The golden-coloured, pure, purifying,' &c., (and) the Anuvâka, 'He who purifies,' &c., he performs, stepping back into the water, three Prânâyâmas with the Aghamarshana (hymn); then he ascends the bank, squeezes (the water) out of his dress, puts on garments which have been washed and dried in the air and which are not the worse for wear, sips water, 11

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sits down on Darbha grass, and, holding Darbha grass (in his hands), recites, facing the east, the Gâyatrî one thousand times, (or) one hundred times, or any number of times, or at least twelve times.

12. Then he worships the sun (reciting the following Mantras): 'Out of darkness we,' &c., 'Up that bright,' &c., That eye which is beneficial to the gods,' &c., (and) 'He who rose,' &c. 12

13. Now they quote also (the following maxim): 'The syllable Om,, the Vyâhritis, and the Sâvitrî, these five Veda-offerings daily cleanse the Brâhmana from guilt.'

14. Being purified by the five Veda-offerings, he next satiates the gods (with water, saying), 14


Footnotes

249:1 8. Vishnu LXIV, 18. This Adhyâya contains the rules for bathing, and the subject is introduced, as Govinda observes, because in the preceding chapter II, 4, 7, 2, it has been said that an impure person must bathe before he performs the twilight devotions. Govinda also states that the word ka, 'and,' which stands after mritpindam, 'a clod,' indicates that gomaya, 'cowdung,' must also be employed.

250:3 The verse is found Taittirîya Âranyaka X, 1, 12,

250:4 Taittirîya Âranyaka X, 1, 11.

250:5 Taittirîya Âranyaka, loc. cit. This and the following Sutras, down to II, 6, 11, 15, are wanting in the Gugarât and Dekhan MSS. except in K.

250:6 Taittirîya Âranyaka X, 1, 13.

250:7 Govinda points out that the completion of this Sûtra is to be found in Sûtra to. He adds that Baudhâyana inserted Sutras 8-9 in the middle, because he was afraid to forget the rules contained in them.

250:8 Vishnu LXIV, 10, 11.

251:9 Taittirîya Âranyaka X, 1, 12.

251:10 Taittirîya Âranyaka X, 23. Govinda says that the rule is intended to indicate also that a person who recites sacred texts while sipping water, must do so only after having taken water once before. K. inserts before this Mantra, also Anuvâka 22.

251:11 Vishnu LXIV, 13-14; 18-19. The Vedic passages intended p. 252 are found Taitt. Samhitâ IV, 1, 5, r; V, 6, 1, r; and Taitt. Brâhmana I, 4, 8. Pavitras, i.e. blades of Kusa grass. 'He performs three Prânâyâmas with the Aghamarshana hymn (Rig-veda X, 190),' i.e. he thrice suppresses his breath (prânâyâma) and recites during each suppression the Aghamarshana three times, just as on other occasions the Gâyatrî is recited three times.

252:12 The first Mantra is found Taitt. Samhitâ IV, 1, 7, 4; the third and the fourth Taitt. Âranyaka IV, 42, 32-33.

252:14 Vishnu XLIV, 24. The ceremony is the so-called Tarpana, which is usually described in the Grihya-sûtras, e.g. Sâṅkhâyana IV, 9-10, and the quotations in Professor Oldenberg's notes, Indische Studien XV, 152.


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