Manual for the Sacrifice to the Nine Planets and the Propitiation of Ganesha

...up to one's own hand. For a fire offering original: home; the act of pouring oblations into the consecrated fire. of one hundred or fifty items, the measurement used is the size of a fist or a "jewel" original: musti-ratna-pramanatah; traditional units of measure based on the closed hand.. ॥ 16 ॥

For sacrifices of one thousand or ten thousand offerings, a pit of one cubit original: hastam; the distance from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger, approximately 18 inches. or half a cubit is recommended. It should have three tiered rims, be circular, and possess a spout or a single tiered rim. ॥ 17 ॥

For ten thousand offerings, it is said the pit should be double in size and square on all sides. For a hundred thousand offerings, the measurement is one cubit, and for ten million offerings, the number of cubits increases accordingly. ॥ 18 ॥

The rims original: mekhala; the raised borders or "girdles" surrounding the sacrificial pit. should be two or three fingers wide in a well-formed pit. For ten thousand offerings, the width of the two rims should be three, four, or six fingers. ॥ 19 ॥

The rims may be five or six, or arranged in tiers of two or three. For a hundred thousand and ten million offerings, the rims are constructed according to the essential proportions of the pit. ॥ 20 ॥

The pit and its rims are formed by the measurement of the depth and width. It should be perfectly square, aligned with the four cardinal directions using a ritual cord. According to the measure of the forearm, there is a specific combination of spans original: vitasti; the distance from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the little finger when the hand is fully extended.. ॥ 21 ॥

As long as the length of the cord is, so should the expansion be. The pit is formed by half that expansion, and by half of that, the surface is made perfectly level. ॥ 22 ॥

One should make the throat original: kantham; the inner collar or neck of the sacrificial pit. of the pit equal to one finger's width. For ten thousand offerings, the same one-finger measure is used; thus the form of the pit is described. ॥ 23 ॥

The measurement for the opening original: yoni; literally 'womb,' the leaf-shaped or lip-shaped conduit attached to the pit where offerings are symbolically birthed into the fire. is seven or twelve fingers in similar sacrifices. Its width is seven fingers and its extension is nine fingers. ॥ 24 ॥

For ten thousand offerings, the opening should be made larger and oriented toward the north. The opening is described as being shaped like the "lip of an elephant" and its size is specified in fingers. ॥ 25 ॥

The width of a barley-corn original: yava; a traditional sub-unit of an angula (finger-width). is used for the smallest measures, following a scale of eight, four, three, or two. The standard measurement of a finger original: angula; the width of a thumb at the middle joint. is stated; a span consists of twelve fingers. ॥ 26 ॥

Twenty-four fingers make one cubit, as proclaimed for the top of the pit. When digging the earth, if the side walls are found to be... ॥ 27 ॥

...[defective], it leads to a short life, death, or pain. Finding hair or charcoal buried in the earth leads to the destruction of wealth. A space of thirty fingers should be maintained between the house and the ritual platform. ॥ 28 ॥

In the northeast direction of the pit, one should construct a platform original: pitham; a raised altar or seat for ritual implements. of two cubits. Some practitioners make the center raised to a height of twelve fingers. ॥ 29 ॥

Provided with two cloths and smeared with purifying cow-dung, and equipped with two rims, the pit for Rudra Rudra is a fierce form of the god Shiva, often associated with the transformative power of the sacrificial fire. is made elegant, adorned with cloth and leaves. ॥ 30 ॥ Holy water...