APASTAMBA PRASNA I, PATALA 3, KHANDA 11.
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1. (The recitation of the Veda shall be interrupted for a day and evening if he has eaten), on beginning a fresh Kanda (of his Veda), food given by a motherless person,
2. And also if he has eaten, on the day of the completion of a Kanda, food given by a fatherless person.
Some declare, that (the recitation shall be interrupted for the same space of time), if he has eaten at a sacrifice offered in honour of gods who were formerly men.
4. Nor is the recitation interrupted, if he has,eaten rice received the day before, or raw meat (though these things may have been offered in honour of the dead),
5. Nor (if he has eaten at a funeral dinner) roots or fruits of herbs and trees.
6. When he performs the ceremony for beginning of a Kanda, or when he studies the index of the Anuvakas
[1. The Black Vagur-veda, to which Apastamba belongs, is divided throughout into books called Kandas.
3. Haradatta names as such gods, Nandisvara and Kubera. Other commentators, however, explain Manushyaprakriti by Manushyamukha, 'possessing human faces.' A similar rule occurs Gautama XVI, 34, Where a Manushyayagna is mentioned as a cause for discontinuing the recitation of the Veda. In his Commentary on Gautama, also, Haradatta is in doubt. He first refers the term to the sacraments like the Simantonnayana, and then adds, that some explain it to mean 'a sacrifice to gods who formerly were men.'
A. This Sutra is an exception to I, 3, 10, 28.
6. Haradatta's commentary on this Sutra is very meagre, and he leaves the word anuvakyam unexplained. I am not ccrtain that my explanation is correct. But it is countenanced by the statements of the Grihya-sutras regarding the order of studying. Weber, Ind. Stud. X, 132.]
of a (Kanda), he shall not study that (Kanda) on that day (nor in that night).
7. And if he performs the ceremonies prescribed on beginning or ending the recitation of one entire Veda, he shall not study that Veda (during that day).
8. If the wind roars, or if it whirls up the grass on the ground, or if it drives the rain-drops forward during a rain-shower, (then the recitation shall be interrupted for so long a time as the storm lasts).
9. (Nor shall he study) on the boundary between a village and forest,
10. Nor on a highway.
11. If (some of his) fellow-students are on a journey, he shall not study during that day, (the passage) which they learn together.
12. And whilst performing acts for his pleasure,
13. Such as washing his feet, shampooing or anointing himself,
14. He shall neither study nor teach, as long as he is thus occupied.
[7. Yagn. I, 145. This Sutra is a Gnapaka or 'such a one which indicates the existence of a rule not expressly mentioned! Above (I, 3, 9, 1) the yearly -performance of the Upakarma and Utsarga ceremonies for the beginning and end of the Brahmanic term has been prescribed. In this Sutra the performance of the Upakarma and Utsarga at the beginning and completion of the Parayana or the vow to go through a whole Veda is incidentally mentioned. Thence it may be inferred that these ceremonies must. be likewise performed on the latter occasions, though no absolute rule to this effect has been given. Such Gnapakas are of frequent occurrence in all Sutras, and constitute one of the chief difficulties of their interpretation.
8. Yagn I, 149; Manu IV, 102, 122.
11. Others explain the Sutra thus: 'If he meets fellow-students, after they have come home from a journey, he shall not study with them on that day.']
15. (He shall not study or teach) in the twilight,
16. Nor whilst sitting on a tree,
17. Nor whilst immersed in water,
18. Nor at night with open doors,
19. Nor in the day-time with shut doors.
20. During the spring festival and the festival (of Indra), in the month of Ashadha (June-July), the study of an Anuvaka is forbidden.
21. (The recitation) of the daily portion of the Veda (at the Brahmayagna is likewise forbidden if done) in a manner differing from the rule (of the Veda).
22. (Now follows) the rule (for the daily recitation) of that (Brahmayagna).
23. Before taking his morning-meal, he shall go to the water-side, and having purified himself, he shall rerite aloud (a portion of the Veda) in a pure
[15. Yagn. I, 145; Manu IV, 113.
16. Yagn. I, 51; Manu IV, 120.
20. According to Haradatta, Apastamba uses the word Anuvaka in order to indicate that smaller portions of the Veda may be studied. Others think, that by Anuvaka, the Samhita and the Brahmana are meant, and that the study of the Angas is permitted. The Vasantotsava, or spring festival, which, according to the Dramas, was, in olden times, kept all over India, falls, according to Haradatta, on the thirteenth of the first half of Kaitra, about the beginning of April.
21. 'Hence, if one has forgotten it and eaten one's breakfast, a penance, not the Brahmayagna, must be performed'--Haradatta.
23. See Taittiriya Aranyaka II, 11, 1 and 11; Asv. Gri. Su. III, 2, 1-2. In our days this rule is usually not observed. Brahmanas mostly recite at the daily Brahmayagna, 'Veda-offering,' one particular formula, which symbolically comprises the whole Veda. A few learned Brahmana friends, however, have assured me, that they still recite the whole of their Sakha every year according to this rule of Apastamba.]
place, leaving out according to (the order of the) texts (what he has read the day before).
24. If a stoppage of study is enjoined (for the day, he shall recite the daily portion) mentally.
25. If lightning flashes without interruption, or, thunder rolls continually, if a man has neglected to purify himself, if he has partaken of a meal in honour of a dead person, or if hoarfrost lies on the ground, (in these cases) they forbid the mental recitation (of the daily portion of the Veda).
26. Some forbid it only in case one has eaten a funeral dinner.
27. Where lightning, thunder, and rain happen together out of season, the recitation shall be interrupted for three days.
28. Some (declare, that the recitation shall stop) until the ground is dry.
29. If one or two (of the phenomena mentioned in Sutra 27 appear, the recitation shall be interrupted) from that hour until the same hour next day.
30. In the case of an eclipse of the sun or of the moon, of an earthquake, of a whirlwind, of the fall of a meteor, or of a fire (in the village), at whatever time these events happen, the recitation of all the sacred sciences (Vedas and Angas) must be interrupted from that hour until the same hour next day.
31. If a cloud appears out of season, if the sun or the moon is surrounded by a halo, if a rainbow, a parhelion or a comet appears, if a (high) wind (blows),
[25. Yagn I, 149; Manu IV, 106, 120, 127; Taitt. Ar. II, 15, 1.
26. Manu IV, 109, 116.
27. Manu IV, 103 and 104.
30. Yagn. I, 145; Manu IV, 105, 118.
31. Manu IV, 104, and see above.]
a foul smell (is observed), or hoarfrost (lies on the ground, at all these occasions (the recitation of all the sacred sciences must be interrupted) during the duration (of these phenomena).
32. After the wind has ceased, (the interruption of the recitation continues) for one muhurta.
33. If (the howl of) a wolf or of a solitary jackal (has been heard, he shall stop the reading) until he has slept.
34. At night (he shall not study) in a wood, where there is no fire nor gold.
35. Out of term he shall not study any part of the Veda which he has not learnt before.
36. Nor (shall he study during term some new part of the Veda) in the evening.
37. That which has been studied before, must never be studied (during the vacation or in the evening).
38. Further particulars (regarding the interruption
[32. One muhurta = 48 minutes.
36. Other commentators interpret the Sutra in a different sense. They take it to mean: 'And (luring the night (from the twelfth to the thirteenth of each half of the month, he shall not study at all, be it in or out of term).'
37. 'What has been studied before, must not be studied (again) at any time in the vacation nor in the evening.'-- Haradatta.
38. Haradatta thinks that by 'Parishad,' Manu's and other Dharnia-satras are meant. This explanation is, however, not exact. Parishad, 'assemblage,' means, in the language of the Sastras, either a Pank, an assemblage of learned Brahmans called together to decide some knotty point of law, or a Brahminical school, which studies a particular redaction of the Veda (see the Petersburg Dict. s. v.) The latter meaning is that applicable to this Sutra. By 'Parishadah' are here intended the Vedic schools, and their writings and teaching. Gautama also says, XVI, 40. Pratividyam yan smaranti smaranti, '(he shall observe the stoppages of the Veda-study) which they teach in (the writings belonging to) each of the Vedas.']
of the Veda-study may be learnt) from the (teaching and works of other) Vedic schools.