Baudhāyana

Now therefore we shall explain the pravaras.

We shall here explain Baudhāyana's section in accordance with the views of the commentary called the Amala-bhāŞya.

(In the Śrauta Sūtra) the four types of Śrauta sacrifice have been explained, viz. iŞṭi, soma, animal, and darvīhoma sacrifices, beginning with the New- and Full-Moon Sacrifices and ending with the Sattras; and the choosing of the ārŞeya has been prescribed as a part of these rites. Thus, in the Taittirīyas, in the New- and Full-Moon Sacrifices: ‘He chooses the one connected with the ṛŞis (ārŞeyam);’

he does not indeed depart from the relationship(with the ṛŞis), and so it conduces to continuity. He chooses from the remote end the nearer ones; therefore the Fathers, from the remote end the nearer ones, drink in order before men.’

So, too, the Brāhmana-passage of the Vājasaneyins which prescribes the ‘choosing of the ṛŞi-formula’ (ārseyavaranam) in the New- and Full-Moon Sacrifices: ‘Next he recites the pravara of ṛŞi -names; he thus makes him known in this matter to the ṛŞis and to the gods, with the thought, “Of great power is he who obtained the sacrifice”. It is for this reason that he recites the pravara of ṛŞi-names. He recites the pravara from the remote end hitherwards, for from the remote end hitherwards a lineage is propagated. He thus also conceals him from (the wrath of) the Lord of the Elder One. For here (among men) the father comes first, then the son, then the grandson. Therefore he recites the pravara from the remote end hitherwards.’ So, too, one may quote elsewhere, Śākhā by Śākhā. Thus certain subordinate sacrificial directions are given in the matter of gotras, as:‘In the case of VasiŞṭhas and Rajanyas the concluding verse (of the Samidhenīs) is “Thou, O Varuna”, but “Pour ye the oblation” in the case of the other gotras.’