20-24 septembrie 2009 - Biblioteca Metropolitana Bucuresti

656 SUCHETA PARANJPEThe very first line proclaims the theme of the text: Omādhānapūrvakāgniṣṭomaprayogo ‘bhidhīyate. And that is what it preciselydoes. Closely following the Jaiminīya Brāhmaṇa (JB) and the JŚS, itquotes freely from and refers all the time to these two texts. There are alsosome other texts on the same theme, like the Kratudīpikā by Kuraṅgarājaor Prayogadīpikā by Vinantānanda, etc. They follow our Prayoga veryfaithfully. With God’s grace and blessings of my teachers like Prof. R.N.DANDEKAR and Dr. C.G. KASHIKAR, I was fortunate to procure a copyof the only available ms. of the entire JŚS. In 1906 Diueke GAASTRApublished for the first time only the Agniṣṭoma portion of the JŚS. It wasall that was available to her then. After 50 years, in 1966, P. SHASTRIpublished Bhavatrāta’s commentary on the previously published Agniṣṭomasection of the JŚS and also on the remaining unavailable portion of the JŚS.This was a unique situation where we had a commentary on a text thatwas not available to us. But now that we have all the possible Jaiminīyaritual texts with us, it sheds new light on and gives an entirely differentperspective to reconstruct and edit any new ms. such as this Prayoga.In this paper I propose to introduce this unique text, to point out itspeculiarities, and compare it with parallel texts. The actual body content ofthe text does not mention Śrīnivāsa as its author. However, the colophonverse clearly states so. Besides, the first folio tells us how an announcer of asomayāga approaches an udgātṛ and requests him to accept the priesthood.He says: Śrīnivāsaśarmaṇaḥ ādhānapūrvakaḥ somo bhaviṣyati / tatrabhavatā audgātraṁ kartavyam iti /. So probably, Śrīnivāsa himself wasthe yajamāna and wrote this Prayoga for the audgātram in his own Somasacrifice. Even later in the text, when, on the eve of the main pressingday, the Subrahmaṇya is supposed to recite the special subrahmaṇīyā,where the names of the sacrificer’s family are supplied, the text says: kauśikabrāhmaṇakauśikabruvāṇaśrīnivāso 1 yajate nārāyaṇasya putro yajateśrīnivāsasya pautro yajate nārāyaṇasya naptā yajate janiśyamāṇānāṁ pitāpitāmaho yajate / nārāyaṇyāḥ pitā yajate /. Here we clearly see the lineage ofŚrīnivāsa. We also come to know that his daughter’s name was Nārāyaṇī. Itis an interesting point to note that he proudly names his daughter. We mustkeep in mind that the JŚS (7) says in this regard: putrāṅāṁ yathājātam /strīṇām api eke. As we are all aware, when a śrautasūtra refers to a practiceas “eke”, it shows that it is not in favor of that practice. And still, Śrīnivāsadares to do that. And this is how his distinct character starts taking shape.Who was this Śrīnivāsa? Adhvarīndra is obviously his epithet, “onewho is a supreme sacrifice”. But where does he come from? There is no1The first two Tatpuruṣas are Indra’s epithets.