* That is, from whom he is perfectly sure of getting something. S£ya/ra, however, takes it in the sense of * from whom he feels sure he will get most,' — Sa brahma^ri yasyi eva bhikshitdyd^ striyaA saklr^ bhi^yish/i^am bahutaram annam labhyata iti jlagheta t&m bhikshetety ihwk, Sdy.
' That is, after leaving his teacher's house and returning home.
' For another version of this legend see Gopatha-Brdhma«a I, 3, 6. See also Prof. Geldner's translation in Pischel and G/s Vedische Studien II, p. 185.
* Prof. Geldner takes 'dhivay4;» ^kdra' in a causal sense
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XI KANDAy 4 ADHYAyA, I BRAhMAYA, 3. 5 I
the northern country. By him a gold coin was
offered; for in the time of our forefathers a prize
used to be offered by chosen (priests) when driving
about, for the sake of calling out the timid ^ to
a disputation. Fear then seized the Brihmanas of
the northern people : —
2. 'This fellow is a Kurupa^^&la Brahman,
and son of a Brahman — let us take care lest he
should deprive us of our domain: come, let us
challenge him to a disputation on spiritual matters.'
— 'With whom for our champion?' — 'With Svai-
d&yana.' Svaidiyana, to wit, was ^aunaka.
3. They said, 'Svaiddyana, with thee as our
champion we will fight this fellow.' He said,
* Well, then, stay ye here quietly : I will just make
his acquaintance *.' He went up to him, and when
he had come up, he (Udd^laka) greeted him saying.
' er verursachte einen Anflauf ' (he caused people to crowd together, or to come to him in crowds). Sdya/ra, however, takes it in the same sense as we have done, — artvi^&ya vri^a^ sann udagde^n ^gdma. The Gopatha-Br., further on, has the remark 'sa vai gotamasja putra ^rdhvzm vr;lo«dhAv!t'(!).
* It is by no means certain whether the interpretation of the paragraph as here adapted is the right one. Prof. Geldner takes it thus, — * He (Udd.) had taken a gold piece with him ; for in times of old the chosen (priests) who caused a crowd to gather round them, used to take a single gold piece with them with a view to their proposing a riddle (or problem) whenever they were afraid/ The Gopatha-Br. has a different reading, which is likewise far from clear : — tasya ha nishka up^ito babhiiva, upavdddd bibhyato yo mi brahma;io X nii^dna upavadishyati tasmi etam praddsydm- !ti ; — by him a gold coin was offered (? by him a gold plate had been put on, i. e. was worn round the neck) being afraid of obloquy (?) : 'I shall give this to any learned Brdhman who will speak up against me/ thus (he thought).
" Or, I'll just find out what kind of man he is.
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5 2 i^ATAPATH A-BRAhMAA^A.
* Svaidayana ! ' — * Halloo, son of Gautama ! ' replied the other, and straightway began to question him.
4. ' He alone, O son of Gautama, may drive
about amongst people as chosen (offering-priest),
who knows in the Full and New-moon sacrifices
eight butter-portions (offered) previously, five por-
tions of sacrificial food in the middle, six (portions)
of Pra^pati, and eight butter-portions (offered)
subsequently.
5. * He alone, O son of Gautama, may drive
about amongst people as chosen (priest), who knows
from the Full and New-moon sacrifices^ whereby
it is that creatures here are bom toothless, whereby
they (the teeth) grow with them, whereby they
decay with them, whereby they come to remain
permanently with them ; whereby, in the last stage
of life, they all decay again with them ; whereby
the lower ones grow first, then the upper ones;
whereby the lower ones are smaller, and the upper
ones broader ; whereby the incisors are larger, and
whereby the molars are of equal size.
6. ' He alone, O son of Gautama, may drive
about amongst people as chosen (priest), who knows
from the Full and New-moon sacrifices, whereby
creatures here are bom with hair; whereby, for
the second time, as it were, the hair of the beard
and the arm-pits and other parts of the body ^ grow
on them ; whereby it is on the head that one first
* Literally, who knows that (element) in the Full and New-moon sacrifices whereby . . .
• The word * durbiri^idni ' is of doubtful meaning, the etymology proposed by Saya^a having little claim to being seriously considered. In the St. Petersb. Diet, the meaning * bristly ' is assigned to it, as applied to the hair of the beard.
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XI KANDAy 4 ADHYAYA, I BRAhMAYA, 9. 53
becomes grey, and then, again, in the last stage of life, one becomes grey all over.
7. * He alone, O son of Gautama, may drive
about amongst people as chosen (priest), who knows
from the Full and New-moon sacrifices whereby
the seed of the boy is not productive, whereby in
his middle age it is productive, and whereby again
in his last stage of life it is not productive ; —
8. *And he who knows the golden, brilliant-
winged Giyatrl who bears the Sacrificer to the
heavenly world.' Then he (Udd41aka) gave up
to him the gold coin, saying, *Thou art learned,
Svaid^yana; and, verily, gold is given unto him
who knows gold;' and he (Svaidiyana), having
concealed it\ went away. They asked him, * How
did that son of Gautama behave ? '
9. He said, * Even as a Brahman, and the son of
a Brahman : the head would fly off of whosoever
should (dare to) challenge him to a disputation V
They then went away in all directions. He
(Udddlaka) then came back to him, with fire-wood
" Saya/ia takes ' upaguhya ' in the sense of ' having embraced (him),* that being the meaning the verb has in classical Sanskrit ; — izm Svaidayanam upaguhya ilingya Udddlakas tasm^t sthindn nlr>bkrdma nishkrintavSn. The Gopatha-Br. has * tad upayamya ' (having taken it) instead. Svaiddyana evidently did not wish the other Brdhmans to know that he had had the better of the Kurupa»^a.
* ? Or, to catechize him ; Brahmd svayaw vedidya>4 brahmaputro brahmish/^ya Gotamasya putra ity etad yathdvr/ttam eva, api tu ya^ purusha enam Uddilakam upavalheta pradhanaw sresh/Aysim (? xresh/^a/») kurydt — varha valha prddhdnya iti dhdtu^ — asya purusbasya mi^rdhi vipatet, alpa^^nasya idhikyena viparyayagra- hsLfAt tannlmitta-^ra>4patanam bhavatfty arthaA, Siy. — Prof. Geld- ner translates, — 'He must rack his brains (muss sich den Kopf zerbrechen) who wants to outdo him in questions (tiberfragen).'
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54 ^atapatha-brAhmaj^ta.
in his hand\ and said, *I want to become thy
pupil/ — ' What wouldst thou study ? ' — * Even those
questions which thou didst ask me — explain them
to me ! ' He said, ' I will tell them to thee even
without thy becoming my pupil/
ID. And he then spoke thus to him: — The two
libations of ghee, the five fore-offerings, and, eighth,
Agni's butter-portion — these are the eight butter-
portions (offered) previously. Soma's butter-portion,
being the first of the portions of sacrificial food —
for Soma is sacrificial food, — Agni's cake, Agni-
Soma's low-voiced offering, Agni-Soma's cake,
and (the offering to) Agni Svish/akr/t — these are
the five portions of sacrificial food in the middle.
11. The fore-portion, the 1^4, what he hands to
the Agnldh *, the Brahman's portion, the Sacrificer s
portion, and the Anvihirya (mess of rice) — these
are the six (portions) of Prafipati. The three
after-offerings, the four Patntsa^^as, and, eighth,
the Samish/aysLfus — these are the eight butter-
portions (offered) subsequently.
1 2. And inasmuch as the fore-offerings are with-
out invitatory formulas ^ therefore creatures are
born here without teeth ; and inasmuch as the chief
oblations have invitatory formulas, therefore they
(the teeth) grow in them ; and inasmuch as the
after-offerings are without invitatory formulas, there-
fore they (the teeth) decay in them ; and inasmuch
as the PatnlsawyS^s have invitatory formulas,
* That is, as a pupil (brahma^rin) would to his teacher.
* Viz. the * shaflfavatla,' or share consisting of six * cuttings/ for which see I, 8, i, 41 with note.
* With these oblations there is no puro«nuv&ky4, but only a y^iy or offering-formula.
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XI kAjvda, 4 adhyAya, i brAhmajva, 14. 55
therefore they (the teeth) come to remain perma-
nently with them ; and inasmuch as the Samish/a-
ya^s is without invitatory formula, therefore they
all decay again in the last stage of life.
13. And inasmuch as, after uttering the invitatory
formula, he offers with the offering-formula, there-
fore the lower (teeth) grow first, then the upper ones ;
and inasmuch as, after uttering a giyatrt verse as
invitatory formula, he offers with a trish/ubh verse ',
therefore the lower (teeth) are smaller, and the
upper ones broader ; and inasmuch as he pours out
the two libations of ghee in a forward direction ^,
therefore the incisors are larger ; and inasmuch as
the two sa/wyfi^yfis * are in the same metre, therefore
the molars are of equal size.
14. And inasmuch as he spreads a cover of sacri-
ficial grass (on the Vedi), therefore creatures here
are born with hair ; and inasmuch as he for the
second time, as it were, spreads the Prastara-bunch *,
therefore, for the second time, as it were, the hair
of the beard and the arm-pits, and other parts of the
body grow ; and inasmuch as at first he only throws
the Prastara-bunch after (the oblations into the fire),
therefore it is on the head that one first becomes
grey ; and inasmuch as he then throws after it all
the sacrificial grass of the altar-ground, therefore,
* Whilst the gdyatrf verse consists of 3 x 8 syllables, the trishAibh has 4 X 1 1 syllables.
* That is, pouring the second into the fire at a place immediately to the front, or eastward, of the first.
* That is, the invitatory and offering-formulas used for the oblation to Agni Svish/akr/t ; sec part i, p. 307, note i.
* For this bunch taken from the sacrificial grass before it is spread on the altar-ground, and symbolically representing the Sacri- ficer, see I, 3, 3, 4 seqq. ; and part i, p. 84, note 2.
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56 5ATA?ATHA-BRAHMAiVA.
in the last stage of life, one again becomes grey all oven
1 5. And inasmuch as the fore-offerings have ghee
for their offering-material, a boy's seed is not pro-
ductive, but is like water, for ghee is like water;
and inasmuch as, in the middle of the sacrifice, they
sacrifice with sour curds ^ and with cake, therefore .
it is productive in his middle stage of life, for
thick-flowing, as it were, is (that havis), and thick-
flowing, as it were, is seed ; and inasmuch as the
after-offerings have ghee for their offering-material,
it again is not productive in his last stage of life, and
is like water, for ghee, indeed, is like water.
16. The Vedi (altar-ground), doubtless, is the
G&yatrl : the eight butter-portions (offered) pre-
viously are her right wing, and the eight butter-
portions (offered) subsequently are her left wing :
that same golden, brilliant-winged G&yatrl, indeed,
bears the Sacrificer who knows this to the heavenly
world.
Second BrAhmajva.
I. Now, then, as to the taking up of the two offering-spoons *. Now, in this respect, some people,
' That is, at the New-moon sacrifice, with the Ssinndyya, or mixture of sour curds with sweet boiled milk. The 'iti' after ' puro^irena ' is taken by Siya«a in the sense of ' ^ ' ; and though this cannot be accepted, it is not very easy to see what force it can have here.
* At the time when the sacrificial food (havis) is to be placed on the Vedi, the two ofFering-spoons, ^hd and upabhrn, are filled with ghee, and then placed, the former on the Prastara-bunch (lying on the Vedi) with the bowl towards the east, and the latter north of it on the grass-cover of the Vedi ; a third spoon, the dhruvS, being again placed north of the upabhr/t. The first libation of ghee Ira) is made from the dipping-spoon (sruva) ; but when about
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XI kXnda, 4 adhyAya, 2 brAhmajva, 3. 57
thinking themselves clever, take up the (^h6) with
the right, and the upabhr/t with the left (hand);
but let him not do so ; for if, in that case, any one
were to say of him, ' Surely, this Adhvaryu has
made the Sacrificer s spiteful enemy equal to him,
and able to cope with him,' then that would indeed
be likely to come to pass.
2. Let him rather do it in this way; — having
taken the ^uhft with both hands, let him lay it down
on the upabhm ; there is no question about this : it
is good for (securing) cattle and life. Let him take
them up without clinking them together, — were he
to let them clink together, insecurity of property
would befall the Sacrificer : let him, therefore, take
them up without clinking them together.
3. Now as to the stepping past (the Vedi). By
a thunderbolt, indeed, one Adhvaryu scatters the
Sacrificer s cattle, and by a thunderbolt another
drives them together for him. Now that Adhvaryu,
doubtless, scatters the Sacrificer s cattle by a thunder-
bolt, who steps past with his right (foot) ^ when he is
