Chapter 27

Vishnu Smriti 27

When the embryo is clearly discernible, the rite of conception (niṣeka). // Vi_27.1 //

Before it quickens, the rite for a male child (puṃsavana). // Vi_27.2 //

In the sixth or eighth month, the parting of the hair (sīmantonnayana).[^5] // Vi_27.3 //

And when the boy is born, the birth ceremony (jātakarma). // Vi_27.4 //

After the āśauca has passed, the naming ceremony (nāmadheya). // Vi_27.5 //

A name for a Brāhmaṇa should be auspicious. // Vi_27.6 //

For a Kṣatriya, powerful. // Vi_27.7 //

For a Vaiśya, connected with wealth. // Vi_27.8 //

For a Śūdra, contemptible. // Vi_27.9 //

In the fourth month, the showing of the sun. // Vi_27.10 //

In the sixth, the first feeding with solid food (annaprāśana). // Vi_27.11 //

[^1]: This verse, and several that follow (notably 20.47-53), are identical or closely parallel to verses in the Bhagavad Gita (e.g., BG 2.27, 8.6, 2.13, 2.22, 2.23-25). This indicates a shared body of philosophical tradition from which both texts draw. [^2]: A textual variant reads pitṛtāś. [^3]: A textual variant reads paiśacaḥ. [^4]: A textual variant reads jyeṣṭayā. [^5]: A textual variant reads paṣṭhe.

In the third year, the tonsure ceremony (cūḍākaraṇa). // Vi_27.12 //

These same rites are performed for women, but without sacred formulas. // Vi_27.13 //

For them, the marriage ceremony is performed with sacred formulas. // Vi_27.14 //

In the eighth year from conception, the upanayana (the investiture with the sacred thread) of a Brāhmaṇa. // Vi_27.15 //

In the eleventh year from conception, of a Rājanya. // Vi_27.16 //

In the twelfth year from conception, of a Vaiśya. // Vi_27.17 //

Their girdles shall be made of Muñja grass, of a bowstring, and of Balbaja grass, respectively. // Vi_27.18 //

Their sacred threads and garments shall be of cotton, hemp, and wool, respectively. // Vi_27.19 //

Their deerskins shall be of the common deer, the tiger, and the goat, respectively. // Vi_27.20 //

Their staffs shall be of Pālāśa, Khādira, and Udumbara wood, respectively. // Vi_27.21 //

They shall reach to the end of the hair, to the forehead, and to the nose, respectively. // Vi_27.22 //

Or all may be of any of these kinds. // Vi_27.23 //

And they shall be uncrooked and with their bark on. // Vi_27.24 //

The begging of alms shall be with the word "bhavat" at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end. // Vi_27.25 //

For a Brāhmaṇa, the Sāvitrī verse is not lost up to the sixteenth year; / For a descendant of a Kṣatriya, up to the twenty-second; for a Vaiśya, up to the twenty-fourth. || Vi_27.26 ||

After this, these three, not having been initiated at the proper time, / Become vrātyas (ones for whom the initiatory rites have not been performed in time), fallen from the Sāvitrī, and despised by the Āryas. || Vi_27.27 ||

Whatever skin is prescribed for him, whatever thread, and whatever girdle, / Whatever staff, and whatever garment, that same shall be for him during his vows. || Vi_27.28 ||

The girdle, the deerskin, the staff, the sacred thread, and the water-pot, / Having cast them into the water when they are worn out, he shall take others with sacred formulas. || Vi_27.29 ||