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

Page 19

...with flowers, saffron, and betel leaves. These are presented to four married women whose husbands are living; original: suvasini. Through this [offering], may the Divine Mother Ambika an aspect of the Goddess, often identified here as Ganesha's mother be pleased. Then, the entire body should be rubbed with an anointing paste Udvartana; a ritual massage using herbal pastes to purify the skin made of white mustard original: gaurasarsapa mixed with pure clarified butter. This should also be applied to the head.

One should then recite the "Hymn for the Path of Well-being" original: Swastyayana. This is performed while using a mixture of white mustard, barley, Durva grass a sacred grass used in almost all Hindu rituals for its purifying properties, and unbroken rice. Next, one prepares fragrant substances: sandalwood, aloe-wood, camphor, musk, and saffron.

Then, having anointed the head with Priyangu a medicinal plant, saffron, Shankhapushpi the 'conch-flower' plant, used in Ayurveda to enhance memory and calm the mind, and all other medicinal herbs including Anukukkuha, the patron Yajamana; the person for whom the ritual is being performed performs the "Recitation for an Auspicious Day" original: Punyahavachana. After the practitioners performing the recitation have been honored with the ritual sprinkling of water, the following blessings, as prescribed in the Shankhayana-Karika a technical manual of the Shankhayana school of the Rigveda, should be applied to one's own head:

Whatever sin, disease, difficulty, or inauspiciousness exists, may that be struck down. May there be great peace for two-footed and four-footed beings.

The Practice: In this ritual of bathing while seated upon the Auspicious Throne Bhadrasana; a specific ritual seat or posture, for the sake of the recitation for an auspicious day, one should offer a fee original: dakshina as a substitute for gold, as described in the Mitakshara a 12th-century legal commentary by Vijnanesvara, highly authoritative in Hindu law.

At this time, the recitation for an auspicious day should be performed according to the path prescribed in one's own Domestic Ritual Manual Grihya-sutra. This is traditionally handed down in the Shankhayana Domestic Manual. Those instructions stated in the Ashvalayana Domestic Manual which are not contradictory should also be accepted. [The patron says:] "May you be the short-form fee..." and so on. May the deities of the directions be auspicious. May the Lords Ganesha and Ambika be pleased. May the Sun and the other planets be pleased. This concludes the recitation for an auspicious day as stated by Apararka a 12th-century King and commentator on law.