The Satapatha-Brâhmana, Part V — SBE Vol. 44 (trans. Julius Eggeling, 1900)

p. 430

are godly people make their sepulchres so as not to be separate (from the earth), whilst those (people) who are of the Asura nature, the Easterns and others, (make their sepulchral mounds) so as to be separated (from the earth), either on a basin! or on some such thing.

2. He then encloses it by means of enclosingstones: what those enclosing-stones (round the fire-hearths) are, that they are here*. With a formula he sets up those, silently these: he thus keeps separate what refers to the gods and what refers to the Fathers. With (an) undefined (number of stones he encloses it), for undefined is yonder world.

3. He then sweeps that (site) with a palasa (Butea frondosa) branch—what the sweeping (signified) on that occasion *, that (it does) here—with (Vag. S. XXXV, 1), ‘Let the niggards avaunt from hence, the perverse scorners of the gods!’— he thereby expels from this world the niggards, the perverse haters of the gods, the Asura-Rakshas ; —‘it is the place of this Soma-offerer,’ for he who has performed a Soma-sacrifice is a Somaofferer ;—‘(an abode) distinguished by lights, by days, by nights,—he thereby makes him to

1 | take the ‘4am’ to be a shallow stone basin or trough, either solid or consisting of masonry (bricks) in the manner of our stonelined graves.

* Cf. VII, 1, 1, 12 seq. ‘ The enclosing-stones are the womb: he thus encloses the seed here sown in a womb... And, again, the G4&rhapatya hearth is this (terrestrial) world, and the enclosingstones are the waters: he thus surrounds this world with water.’

> Viz. in building the Garhapatya hearth (VII, 1, 1, 11 seqq.); no such sweeping taking place in preparing the site for the Ahavantya (VII, 3, 1, 7).

xm KAwpA, 8 ADHYAYA, 2 BRAHMANA, 6. 431

be of the world of the seasons, the days and nights ;—

4. ‘May Yama grant him an abode;’—for Yama has power over the abode in this (earth), and it is him he solicits for an abode therein for this (dead man). He throws out this (branch) to the right (south), the other! to the left (north) side: he thus keeps the divine separate from what belongs to the Fathers.

5. He (the Adhvaryu) then yokes (the team) to the plough on the south side,—some say on the north side: he may do as he chooses. Having given the order, saying, ‘Yoke!’ he (the Sacrificer) utters the formula (Vag. S. XX XV, 2), ‘May Savitr? vouchsafe for thy bones a place in the earth!’—Savitz? now indeed vouchsafes a place in the earth for his (the deceased man’s) bones ;—‘ Let the oxen be yoked therefore!’ for it is indeed for this work that the oxen are yoked.

6. It is (a team) of six oxen,—six seasons are a year: on the seasons, on the year, as a firm foundation, he thus establishes him. Having turned round (the plough) from right to left?, he ploughs the first furrow with (V4g. S. XX XV, 3), ‘May V4yu purify!’ along the north side (along the cord) towards the west*; with, ‘May

. } Viz, that used in sweeping the G4rhapatya, VII, 7, 1, 5.

Having
turned round (the plough) from right to left?,
he ploughs the first furrow with (V4g. S. XX XV,
3), ‘May V4yu purify!’ along the north side
(along the cord) towards the west*; with, ‘May

. } Viz, that used in sweeping the G4rhapatya, VII, 7, 1, 5.

% That is, having driven the plough round from the south side to the north, in the non-sunwise direction (i.e. keeping the sepulchral site on the left hand side),

*® In ploughing the site of the fire-altar, the first furrow was drawn along the south side from west to east ; and then, in sunwise fashion, from the south-west corner round along the west, north, and east sides ; see VII, 2, 2, 9 seqq.

p. 432

Savity? purify!’ along the west side towards the south; with, ‘With Agni’s lustre!’ along the south side towards the east; with, ‘With Sarya’s brilliance!’ along the front side towards the north.

7. Four furrows he ploughs with a formula: he thereby establishes him in whatever food there is in the four quarters. And (as to why it is done) with a formula,—certain, assuredly, is the sacrificial formula (yagus), and certain are these quarters.

8. He then ploughs across the body (of the sepulchral site)—he thereby establishes him in whatever food there is in the year'—silently with (an) undefined (number of furrows), for undefined is yonder world.

g. Having performed the work for which he has put the team to that (plough), he now unfastens it: ‘Let the oxen be unyoked!’ he says, for it is for that work that the oxen were yoked. To the right (south) side* he removes this (plough and team), to the left (side) any other: he thus keeps the divine separate from what belongs to the Fathers.

Tuirp BRAHMANA.
1. He then sows (seed) of all (kinds of) herbs:

what the all-herb (seed signified) on that occasion §, that (it does) here. With many (verses *‘) he sows

1 The Sacrificer’s body (trunk) or self, like that of Prag4pati, is as usual identified with the year (Father Time).

® Or rather to the south-west side, whilst at the Agnifayana (VII, 2, 2, 21) it was done towards the north-east.

8 Viz. that it means food of every kind, see VII, 2, 4, 14.

‘ Viz. with fifteen verses (VI, 2, 4, 15 seqq.) of which the one here used formed part (part iii, p. 340, note 2, verse 5).

xm KAwpA, 8 ADHYAYA, 3 BRAHMANA, 3. 433

that (former ‘seed), with a single one this,—he thus keeps the divine separate from what belongs to the Fathers,—with (Vag. S. XXXV, 4), ‘On the Asvattha tree is your abode, on the Parza dwelling is made for you, (possessed of cattle shall ye be, when ye save the Man):’ for long life he thereby prays for these (the Sacrificer’s family), and accordingly each subsequent one of them dies of old age}.

S. XXXV, 4), ‘On the Asvattha tree is your abode, on the Parza dwelling is made for you, (possessed of cattle shall ye be, when ye save the Man):’ for long life he thereby prays for these (the Sacrificer’s family), and accordingly each subsequent one of them dies of old age}.

2. He then pours out that (jarful of bones *); for this earth is the foundation: on this (earth), as a foundation, he thus establishes him. Before sunrise (he does so), for, in secret, as it were, are the Fathers, and in secret, as it were, is the night;— in secret, indeed, he does this, (but) so that (the sun) should rise over him doing it: on both day and night he thus establishes him.

3. [He does so, with Vag. S. XX XV, 5-6,] ‘May Savityé deposit thy bones in the mother’s lap, —Savitvz thus deposits his bones in the lap of the mother, this earth;—‘O Earth, be thou propitious unto him!’ he thus says this in order that this (earth) may be propitious to him.—‘In the deity Pragdpati I place thee, in the world nigh unto the water’, O N. N.,’ therewith he mentions the name (of the deceased); for nigh to

1 That is, they die of old age, just as do the herbs now sown to
which the verse is, of course, addressed in the first place. Cf.
Mahfdhara on V4g. S. XII, 79.

* On burning the dead body, immediately after death, the calcined bones were carefully collected and kept in an earthen vessel ; cf. p. 117, note 3.

* Or, in a place near water. The Samhit& adds (either before or after the dead man’s name), ‘May he (Pragfpati) burn away our sin!’

(44] Ffp. 434 the water, indeed, is this (terrestrial) world: he thus places him in the deity Pragdpati, in the world nigh unto the water.

4. He then says to some one, ‘ Proceed in that (southern) direction without drawing breath, and. having thrown down the jar, return hither without looking behind thee!’ He then mutters (VAg. S. XXXV, 7), ‘O Death, go away another way, what second way there is of thine other than the path of the gods?; I call unto thee that hast eyes and hearest: hurt not our family nor our men!’ for long life he thereby prays for these, and accordingly each subsequent one of them dies of old age.

5. He then arranges him (the dead man) limb by limb, with (Vag. S. XX XV, 8-9), ‘ Propitious be the wind unto thee, propitious the heat of the sun; propitious be the bricks; propitious be the fires unto thee, and may the earthly ones not scorch thee!—May the regions fit themselves to thee, and may the waters be most kind unto thee, and the rivers; and kind also the air: may all the regions fit themselves to thee!’—he thereby makes everything fit itself to him, and be auspicious for him.

6. Now thirteen unmarked? bricks, measuring a foot (square), have been made: they are just like those bricks in the fire-altar. Those (altar bricks) he lays down with a formula, silently these: he thus keeps the divine separate from what belongs to the Fathers.