1 See p. 301, note 3. 2 See p. 153, note 1.
VII KANDA, 3 ADHYAYA, I BRAHMAiVA, 29. 349
26. As to this they say, 'How do these (clod-
bricks) come to be put on as baked, as heated (burnt)
ones ? ' Well, these (clods) are vital sap, and the
vital sap (blood) is naturally-heated ; and, moreover,
whatever comes in contact with Agni Vai^vanara,
even thereby comes to be put on as baked, as
heated.
27. He then throws up the Uttara-vedi1 (high-
altar), — the Vedi is this (earth), the Uttara-vedi the
sky, and the clod-bricks are the regions : thus when
he puts on the clod-bricks between (the preparation
of) the Vedi and (that of) the Uttara-vedi, he there-
by places the regions between these two worlds ;
whence the regions are between these two worlds.
He makes it either a yoke long on each side, or
forty feet, — whichever way he pleases. He then
throws sand thereon : the meaning of this has been
explained.
28. He throws it on the Uttara-vedi ; — the Uttara-
vedi is the womb : he thus infuses seed into the
womb ; and the seed which is infused into the womb
becomes generative. He covers the whole body (of
the altar) with that (sand) : he thus puts seed into
the whole body 2 ; whence the seed is produced
from the whole body.
29. [He throws it on the high-altar, with Va^. S.
XII, 106-m; MS. X, 140] ' Thine, O Agni,
is glory and vigour/ — his glory (iravas) and vigour
doubtless is the smoke, for that announces (sravaya)
him in yonder world, — ' mighty shine forth the
1 See p. 325, note 6.
2 That is to say, he first throws down sand on the Uttara-vedi, and then covers with it the whole of the body of the altar, so as to make it even with the Uttara-vedi.
3 50 DATAPATH A-BRAHMAiVA.
flames, O rich-beamed one! ' that is, ' the flames
of (thee), the mighty one, shine forth, O thou, abound-
ing in wealth!' — ' With might, O wide-rayed
one (thou bestowest) strength, worthy of song/
might is power : thus, ' By (thy) power, O wide-rayed
one, (thou gi vest) food worthy of song;' — 'bestowest
thou upon the worship, O sage ! ' worship doubt-
less is the Sacrificer ; thus, ' Upon the worship thou
bestowest, O sage ! '
30. * Pure-flamed, bright-flamed/ for pure-
flamed and bright-flamed he (Agni) is; ' full-flamed,
didst thou burst forth with light/ that is, 'full-
flamed shonest thou forth with light;' — 'running
about as their son thou helpest the two
mothers/ for as their son he does help the two
mothers; — 'thou fillest both spheres/ the two
spheres doubtless are these two, heaven and earth,
and these two he indeed fills, — with smoke yonder
(sky), with rain this (earth).
31. ' Child of strength, knower of beings, in
benedictions/ that is, 'child of strength, knower of
beings, in praises/— ' delight thou, kindly in
thoughts/ that is, ' shine thou, kindly in thoughts ;'
— ' in thee have they brought together multi-
form nourishments/ that is, 'in thee have they
brought together many-formed nourishments ; ' — ' of
wondrous help are the fair-born/ as the text, so
the meaning.
32. ' Ruling, O Agni, spread thou by beings'
— the beings are men : thus, ' Shining, O Agni,
spread thyself by men!' — 'riches amongst us,
O immortal ! ' that is, ' bestowing wealth upon us, O
immortal!' — 'Of beautiful form, shinest thou' —
for he indeed shines, of beautiful form; — 'thou
VII KANDA} 3 ADHYAYA, I BRAHMAiVA, 36. 35 T
fillest (us with) profitable1 wisdom;' that is, ' thou fillest (us with) perennial wisdom/
33. 'Him, the wise arranger of the cult/ —
the cult is the sacrifice : thus, ' him, the wise pre-
parer of the sacrifice ; ' — 'ruling over great
wealth/ that is, 'ruling in great wealth;' — 'the
bestowal of good things, — prosperous, mighty
(mah) nourishment/ — that is, 'the bestowal of good
things ; prosperous, ample (mahat) nourishment/ —
'givest thou, and profitable substance/ that
is, 'givest thou, and perennial substance/
34. '[Thee,] the righteous/ that is, 'the truth-
ful ; ' — ' the mighty/ the mighty (or buffalo) doubt-
less is Agni ; — ' the all-remarkable/ for he (Agni)
is indeed remarkable to all; — '(thee), Agni, men
have placed foremost for happiness/ happiness
doubtless is the sacrifice, and for the sacrifice they
indeed place him foremost ; — ' thee, the hearer, the
far-ruling, divine one, with song the human
tribes;' that is, 'thee who hearest, thee, the far-
ruling god, we men invoke/
35. Now this hymn of six verses is that same
Agni Vaisvanara ; and it is in order to make a
beginning (in the building of the altar) that that
sand is scattered, — he thereby pours into it Agni
Vauvanara as seed ; — (he does so) with a six-versed
hymn : six seasons are a year and the year is
Vaisv&nara (belonging to all men).
36. As to this they say, ' If the seed is said to be
seed what is its seed characteristic ? ' — Let him say,
' white ; ' for seed is white ; — or ' speckled/ for seed
is, as it were, speckled.
1 The author connects ' sanasi ' with ' sanatana ' (old, perpetual).
352 SATAPATHA-BRAHMAiVA.
3 j. As to this they say, ' As seed is moist, and
he scatters dry sand, how does it become moist for
him, after the manner of seed ? ' Well, the metres
are vital sap, and vital sap is moist ; and inasmuch
as he scatters that (sand) with metres, it is thus that
it becomes moist for him, after the manner of seed.
38. As to this they say, ' How does it come to be
put on for him by means of the day and the night ? '
Well, day and night are two, and there are two
(kinds of) seed, the white and the black : as black
and white it is thus put on for him by means of the
day and the night.
39. As to this they say, ' How does that (sand),
put on by the days and nights, become complete
(or perfect) for him, neither deficient, nor super-
abundant ? ' Well, endless are the days and nights,
and endless is the sand : it is thus that, put on
by the days and nights, it becomes complete for
him, neither deficient, nor superabundant. ' And
wherefrom (is obtained) the oceanic (Samudriya1)
metre ? ' The ocean is endless, and the sand is
endless : that is the oceanic metre.
40. As to this they say, ' How is that (sand) of
his put on separately with different prayers ? ' Well,
prayer is thought ; this thought, prayer, comes to be
equal to the whole sand 2 : and thus that (sand) of his
comes to be put on separately with different prayers.
41. As to this they say, ' How does that (sand)
of his come to be put on by all the metres ? ' —
Inasmuch as he scatters it with that hymn of six
verses ; for as many syllables as there are in the
1 The exact purport of this term is not clear.
2 Sikata^, sand, is plural, consisting as it does of a multiplicity of sand-grains.
Vii Kanda, 3 Adhyaya, I Brahmajva, 44. 353
seven metres, so many syllables there are in that
hymn of six verses ] : thus that (sand) of his comes
to be put on by all the metres.
42. And as to why he scatters sand, — that Agni
(fire-altar) is Pra^apati, and Pra^apati is the whole
Brahman. Now that sand is (put) in (the place of)
the lost part of the Brahman ; and that part of it
which has not been lost is this fire-altar which is now
being built : thus when he scatters sand he restores
to him that lost part of the Brahman. That (sand
which) he scatters is unnumbered, unlimited ; for
who knows how great is that lost part of the Brah-
man ? And verily he who, knowing this, scatters
sand, restores the whole, complete Pra^dpati.
43. As to this they say, ' What is the number of
these unnumbered sand grains ? ' Let him say,
' Two ; ' for there are two kinds of sand, the white
and the black ; or let him say, ' Seven hundred and
twenty/ for so many days and nights there are in
the year ; or * Two hundred and fifty-two/ for so
many syllables there are in that hymn of six verses ;
or * Twenty-five/ for seed is twenty-fivefold 2.
44. This same (sand represents) bricks with special prayers : he places it on the body (of the altar), not
1 This is a somewhat loose calculation. As a matter of fact, the seven principal metres, viz. Gayatri (24), Ushmh (28), Anu- sh/ubh (32),Br/hati (36),Pankti (40), TrishAibh (44), Gagati (48), contain together 252 syllables. The hymn recited in scattering the sand, on the other hand, consists of one Vish/drapankti (40), three Satobrzliatis (3 x 40), the Uparish/aggyotis (? 40), and one Trish/ubh (44), or together of 244 syllables. On similar cases of looseness in computing the syllables of metres, see p. 318, note 1.
2 Viz. inasmuch as it emanates from the body (paragraph 28), and the body consists of twenty-five parts — the trunk, the four limbs, and twenty fingers and toes. Cf. VI, 2, 1, 23, where, how- ever, the trunk is not taken into account.
[41] A a
354 DATAPATH A-BRAHMAiVA.
on the wings and tail ; for bricks with special prayers
are placed on the body, not on the wings and tail.
He does not * settle ' it, lest he should stop the seed,
and generation.
45. He then strokes it (the sand) even by means
of two verses containing the verb * to grow : ' he
thereby causes that infused seed to grow, whence
the seed infused into the womb grows ; — with two
(verses) relating to Soma (he strokes the sand) ; for
Soma is breath : he thus puts breath into the seed ;
whence the infused seed becomes possessed of breath.
But, indeed, were it to come forth without breath
it would become putrid ; and this indeed is the
Sftdadohas l in this case ; for Soma is breath, and
the Sfidadohas is breath.
46. [V^. S. XII, 112, 113; Rt\ S. I, 91, 16, 18]
'Grow thou! let manly power gather in thee
from all sides, O Soma ! ' manly power doubtless
is seed ; thus, ' Grow thou ! let seed gather in thee
from every side, O Soma!' — ' Be thou in the
gathering of strength!' in food doubtless is
strength : thus, * be thou in the gathering of food ! ' —
' Let the drinks, let the forces gather in thee!'
— drink doubtless means vital sap, and in food are
forces : thus, ' let vital sap, let food gather itself
in thee!' — 'and manly powers in thee, the
overcomer of enemies;' that is, 'and seed in
thee, the overcomer of evil ; ' — 'growing, O Soma,
for the sake of immortality/ he thereby lays
immortality into the generative power, whence
generative power is immortal; — 'gain thou the
highest glory in the heavens ! ' his highest glory
1 See p. 301, note 3.
VII KANDA, 3 ADHYAYA, 2 BRAHMAiVA, I. 355
in the heavens doubtless is the moon, for that one
causes him to be celebrated in yonder world1.
With two (verses) he makes him grow, a gayatri
and a trishAibh one, — the significance of this has
been explained.
47. Now then the (mystic) correspondence, — four
clod-bricks he puts on ; with a six-versed (hymn) he
scatters (the sand) ; with two (verses) he makes (the
seed) grow ; that makes twelve, — twelve months are
a year, and the year is Agni : as great as Agni is,
as great as is his measure, so great does this become.
Second Brahma^a.
1. Having smoothed (the sand) down with the
two verses containing (the verb) ' to grow/ and
returned (to the hall) he proceeds with the guest
offering. Having performed the guest offering, he
proceeds with the Pravargya and the Upasad2.
Having performed the Pravargya and the Upasad,
they appease that (first) layer on the (red ox-)skin.
And as to why on a skin : for the obtainment of the
forms, the skin being outward form ; — on the hairy
side : for the obtainment of the forms, hair being
outward form ; — on a ruddy (skin) : for the obtain-
ment of all forms, all forms (colours being contained)
in the ruddy ; — on (the skin) of an ox : for the obtain-
ment of Agni's forms, the ox being the same as Agni ;
— on (the skin spread) with the neck towards the
east, for that (tends) godward.