[Advaita-l] Brihad Up and Putrakameshti

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Wed, 14 Dec 2011, subhanu saxena wrote:

> Namaste, I
> have been travelling for the last few weeks and only saw this post recently.

Then you have probably not seen the message from the admins closing this 
thread.  Well anyway while we are here let me make some observations.  I 
request that anyone responding please stick to the texts under discussion 
and not go off on wild tangents about eating or not eating beef etc.


>  Not sure if it has been answered but you can refer to the Grihya Sutras,
> specifically Asvalayana I.13, Paraskara I.11, Sankhayana I.19. Whilst Paraskara
> is the Shukla Yajur Veda text, it is interesting that the Brihad passages are
> referred to in the Asvalayana I.13.12:
>
> Quotes from
> GRETIL text:
>
> I.13.1 upaniṣadi.garbha.lambhanam.puṃsavanam.anavalobhanam.ca
>
> The Upanishad (treats of) the Garbhalambhana, the Pumsavana, and the 
> Anavalobhana (i.e. the ceremonies for securing the conception of a 
> child, the male gender of the child, and for preventing disturbances 
> which could endanger the embryo).
>

It is not clear that the upanishad in question is the bR^ihadAraNyaka. 
Apart from being in the wrong shakha, the bR^ihadaAraNyaka names these 
vidhis, shrImantha and putramantha -- terms which are not used by 
ashvalAyana.  nArAyaNa the commentator on ashvalAyana also does not make 
the connection.  On the other hand sAyaNAchArya commenting on the 
madhyandina version of the text does equate it with garbhAdhAnam, 
soShyantikarma, jAtakarma, AyuShyakaraNa and stanyapradAna, in other words 
the full range of saMskAras for an infant.  Thus it would seem to be a fit 
topic for gR^ihyasUtras.

>
>
> I.13.2 yady.na.adhīyāt.tṛtīye.garbha.māse.tiṣyeṇa.upoṣitāyāḥ.sarūpa.vatsāyā.gor.dadhani.dvau.dvau.tu.māṣau.yavam.ca.dadhi.prasṛtena.prāśayet
>
>
>
> If he does not study (that Upanishad), he should in the
> third month of her pregnancy, under (the Nakshatra) Tishya, give to eat (to the
> wife), after she has fasted, in curds from a cow which has a calf of the same
> colour (with herself), two beans and one barley grain for each handful of
> curds.
>

Nowadays puMsavana saMskAra is performed perfunctorily if at all but the 
method specified in the shuklayajurveda prayogas seems nearer to that in 
the bR^i U. (where nearer means not very near) than the method described 
above.


> Surprisingly Suresvara gives some detail in the ritual in his
> vartikas in BUBV 6.4 on the Upanishad sections 6.4.18 etc.

I shall write separately about this.

--
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>