जातकर्मThe birth rite
Verse 141
मधुसर्पिः कांस्यपात्रे समानीयाऽसमांशकम् । वाग्भवं शतधा जप्त्वा प्राशयेत्तनयं पिता ॥ १४१ ॥
madhusarpiḥ kāṁsyapātrē samānīyā’samāṁśakam | vāgbhavaṁ śatadhā japtvā prāśayēttanayaṁ pitā || 141 ||
Translation
Bringing honey and ghee in unequal parts into a bronze vessel and reciting the vāgbhava over it a hundred times, the father should give it to his son to taste,
Word by word
- madhu
- honey
- sarpiḥ
- (sarpiḥ) and ghee
- kāṁsya
- bronze
- pātrē
- in a vessel
- samānīya
- having brought
- asamāṁśakam
- (asamāṁśakam) in unequal parts
- vāgbhavaṁ
- the vāgbhava (aiṁ)
- śatadhā
- a hundred times
- japtvā
- having recited
- prāśayēt
- (prāśayet) should give to taste
- tanayaṁ
- his son
- pitā
- the father
Meaning
Honey and ghee are mixed in unequal measure, as the text and the commentary both say (in Āyurveda the two in equal amounts are held harmful). Over the mixture the father recites aiṁ, the seed of speech and learning, a hundred times.
Commentary
Hariharānanda Bhāratī’s Sanskrit commentary, translated
"Madhu" and the rest. After that, after giving the five oblations, bringing honey and ghee in unequal shares into a bronze vessel and reciting over it the vāgbhava, the mantra aiṁ, a hundred times, the father, uttering this mantra, "āyur varco balaṁ medhā vardhatāṁ te sadā śiśo" ("child, may your life, lustre, strength and intelligence ever grow"), should give the honey and ghee to his son to taste with the ring finger of his right hand.