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Laugakshi Grihyasutra – Content – Important Details

Laugakshi Grihyasutra is a collection of aphorisms governing the domestic rituals of Brahmanas of Krishna Yajurveda (Kathaka recension) prevalent in Kashmir, is divided into seventy three khandikas (sections).

Among the three commentaries of Laugakshi Grihyasutra, Vivarana by Aditya Darshana is brief, Panchika by Brahmanabala is a detailed exposition adding material from other sources and the bhashya by Devapala explains the sutras and mantras employed in the rites.

Vedic study for a student ends with the performance of certain rites. The text lays down expiation like kricchra (a minor penance where one is made to eat panchagavya, followed by the observance of fast the next day), etc… for not practicing the austerities. The domestic rites in which food is offered as paka yajna (oblation) are four kinds, depending on the method, type and sequence of the oblation.

After performing the rite called Godana, one enters married life at the age of sixteen or after completing the study of the four Vedas. The text describes in detail the rules and relating to one’s marriage. Then it deals with the rite of impregnation, feeding the child with cooked rice, setting up the tuft, the initiation into student life, the rite for getting offspring and the rite for propitiating the asterisms. Then it explains the procedures relating to the rites in which an offering is made in the autumn and spring for the fulfillment of all desires, the Agnihotra (fire rite) done daily in the morning and evening, and the rites done in honor of the ancestors.