abhiṣecanīya

or consecrated, worthy of being bathed or consecrated (see

abhiṣeka); e. g. Śatapathabr.: ye vā etasyodṛcaṃ gamiṣyanti rāṣṭraṃ

te bhaviṣyanti rājāno bhaviṣyantyabhiṣecanīyāḥ…viśo

'nabhiṣecanīyāḥ. E. sic with abhi, kṛtya aff. anīyar.

II. 1. m. f. n. (-yaḥ-yā-yam) Fit for, or serving for,

the ceremony of consecration (see abhiṣecana and abhiṣeka);

e. g. Śatapathabr.: abhiṣecanīyāni pātrāṇi bhavanti yatraitā

āpo'bhiṣecanīyā bhavanti.

2. m. (-yaḥ) The name of a Soma sacrifice: the second

of the seven Soma sacrifices which form part of the Rāja-

sūya (q. v.; and see pavitra or abhyārohaṇīya, daśapeya, keśava-

panīya, vyuṣṭidvirātra consisting of two sacrifices, and kṣatra-

dhṛtiḥ; Sāyaṇa in conformity with Kātyāyana: tatra--i. e.

in the Rājasūya--pavitrābhiṣecanīyadaśapeyakeśavapanīyavyuṣṭi-

dvirātrakṣatradhṛtisaṃjñakāḥ sapta somayāgāḥ; the Vyākhyā of the

Maśaka Sūtr.: rājā rājasūyena yajeta tasya sapta sutyā abhyā-

rohaṇīyaḥ . abhiṣecanīyaḥ . daśapeyaḥ . keśavapanīyaḥ . vyuṣṭi-

dvirātraḥ . kṣatrasya dhṛtiriti). It is performed a year after

the pavitra or abhyārohaṇīya has taken place (Sāyaṇa on the

Śatap.: evaṃ pavitrākhyātprathamasomayāgādanantarabhāvīnyānuma-

tādīnīṣṭidarvihomātmakāni saṃvatsaraparyantamanuṣṭheyāni karmāṇya-

nukrāntāni . atha dvitīyasyābhiṣecanīyākhyasya somayāgasya pra-

yogo'bhidhāsyate; the Vyākhyā on Maśaka: abhyārīhaṇī-

yeneṣṭvā saṃvatsarādūrdhvamabhiṣecanīyena yajeta), and commences,

according to Harisvāmin, on the first day of the second

or dark fortnight; acc. to the Sāmaveda-school, on the first

day of the first or light fortnight of the month Phālguna

(February-March); it consists of several ceremonies which

last five days, the first or dīkṣā occupying one day, the

upasad offerings three days and the sutyā one day. The

officiating priest who performs the initiatory rites and

chants the Sāmav.-hymns specified in Maśaka's Kalpasūtras,

must be a Brāhmaṇa of the family of Bhṛgu. The principal

ceremonies of this sacrifice (in which seem to have originated

those of the abhiṣeka q. v.) are the following: after the

initiatory rites have been performed and the Adhwaryu

priest has summoned the king who performs the Rājasūya

sacrifice, in proclaiming his name, the name of his father

and mother and that of his kingdom, he takes seventeen

kinds of liquid with vessels made of Udumbara (Ficus glo-

merata) wood, viz. he takes 1. water of the river Sarasvatī,

which he places in a well screened place; 2. having pro-

vided himself with as much clarified butter as is sufficient

for a full libation and gone into a pond, and having sent

there a man or a beast, he pours into the first wave which

is roused by either of them in an eastern direction, the

clarified butter and then takes the water of that wave; 3. he

repeats the same process with the second wave which is

roused in a western direction; 4. he then takes river-water

in the direction with the stream and 5. against the stream,

6. river-water which has broke out and formed a separate

stream, 7. sea-water, 8. water from a whirlpool, 9. water from

a deep lake, 10. water proceding from rain during sunshine,

before it has fallen down, 11. water from small tanks, 12. well-

water, 13. ice- or dew-water; (Śrīdeva observes that it must

be collected in places where there is much dry grass,

by throwing a clean garment over it and afterwards by

wringing it out in a cup); 14. honey, 15. water proceeding

from the membranes investing the fœtus of a cow which

has calved, 16. milk, 17. clarified butter; (Śrīdeva observes

that the water of the Sarasvatī and all water which is not

at hand as well as the water which can only be had con-

ditionally, e. g. that of 10. 13 15., must be first procured and

then the other kinds). He then catches, at it were, sun beams

with the hollow of his hand and joins them with each of the

seventeen liquids while repeating severally the hymns he

has recited before, when collecting each water. Then, he

pours these liquids into one vase made of Udumbara-

wood, arranges four vases made severally of Palāśa-(Butea

frondosa), Udumbara-, the pendant branch of the Ficus

Indica-, and Aśvattha- (Ficus religiosa) wood, spreads

out before them a tiger-skin and distributes the water col-

lected in the one vase, into the four sacrificial vases. Next

follows the toilet of the king who takes off the garments

he wore at the preparation for the sacrifice, and now is

clad by the Adhwaryu in a silk under garment and over

it in a red and white cloak; on his head the priest places

the royal turban (uṣṇīṣa), fastening both its ends to his

waist; and in his hands the bow, which he strings, and

three arrows. Then he throws copper into the face of a

long-haired eunuch who sits in the midst of the assembly and

represents the various kinds of death. These rites having been

performed, the Adhwaryu invites the king to step on the

tiger-skin, placing under his feet a golden circle and another

golden circle perforated with nine or a hundred holes on his

head; then he lifts up the arms of the king, and while the

latter is thus standing with his face towards the east, either he

or the royal family priest drops the contents of the Palāśa

vase over him; then the king's brother drops over him the

water contained in the Udumbara vase; then a Kshatriya

friend the water in the third vase, and lastly a Vaiśya

the water in the Aśvattha vase. The Hotṛ then having

recited the legend of Śunaḥśepa, the king gives to the

Adhwaryu and to him severally a hundred or a thousand

cows as well as gold, food and cloth; he then rubs the

consecrated water which remains on his body, over himself

with a black-horn-brush, makes three steps on the tiger-

skin at the hand of the Adhwaryu, and having poured the

remainder of the consecrated liquid into the Palāśa vase

hands it to his favourite son. After a libation of clarified

butter the Adhwaryu then proclaims the name of the king

coupling with it, however, this time the name of the son

(by saying e. g. ‘here is Daśaratha, the father of Rāma’).

The subsequent ceremonies refer to the preparation of a

carriage, the putting to it of a team of horses &c., the

giving of cows to the king's brother, the king's mounting

the car, tying on his feet a pair of shoes made of boar's

skin, giving to his bow-bearer the bow with the three ar-

rows and after various other rites, playing a game of shells,

five shells having been handed to him by the Adhwaryu,

with his brother, his charioteer (sūta) or his architect (stha-

pati) and his military chief, the shells being either made

of gold, or the fruits of Beleric myrobalan serving as such

(Sāyaṇa on the Śatap.: akṣā nāma kapardakāḥ suvarṇanirmitāḥ .

vibhītakaphalāni sauvarṇā vetyeke) and the game representing

the victory of the Kali age over the other ages; the cere-

mony closes with libations in the fire. (The Mīmānsists

do not consider the recital of the legend of Śunaḥśepa and

the game of shells as special parts of the Abhiṣechanīya,

but as rites belonging in general to the whole Rājasūya

sacrifice. For the full detail of the ceremony and the

hymns to be recited at the various rites see Śatapathabr.

V. 3. 3. 1.--4. 4. 25. and Kātyāyana's Śrautas. book 15,

4-7.). E. abhiṣecana, taddh. aff. cha (II. 2. scil. somayāga);

(Mādhava, however, who uses also the term abhiṣecya as

the name of the ceremony, seems to consider the word as

a Tatpur. like abhiṣecanīya I.).

1) adj.

a) der Weihung würdig: rājānaḥ, dageg. die vìśo 'nabhiṣecanī̀yāḥ ŚAT. BR. 13, 4, 2, 17.

— b) zur Weihung gehörig: pātrāṇi, āpaḥ ŚAT. BR. 5, 3, 5, 10-15. KĀTY. ŚR. 15, 5, 6.

— 2) m. die Weihungsfeier ŚAT. BR. 5, 4, 5, 5. 5, 3, 1. AIT. BR. 7, 15. ĀŚV. ŚR. 9, 3. 4. KĀTY. ŚR. 15, 3, 32-34. 8, 22. 9, 22. 18, 6, 15. MAŚ. 4, 8. in Verz. d. B. H. 72.

1)

b) abhiṣecanīye 'hni zur Weihe bestimmt MBH. 2, 1307. Nach dem Schol. = abhiṣecanīya 2).

— 1) Adj.

— a) der Weihung würdig.

— b) zur Weihung gehörig , — bestimmt.

— 2) m. Weihungsfeier. °vat Adv. KĀTY. ŚR. 18,6,15.