* Or, will fall down (Max Mttller, Weber) ; sich in's Verderbcn stOrzen (will rush to his destruction), Kuhn; — forteilen (hasten away), Grassmann ; verloren gehen (get lost), Ludwig ; sich in den Abgrund stOrzen, Geldner; — ' mahdprasthdnaw kury&t' (he will set out on the great journey, i. e. die), Sdyajia. The BrAhma^a seems to propose two different renderings, — to throw oneself down (hang oneself), or, to start forth.
* Nirrtti is the goddess of decay or death.
* The meaning of ' sdl&vnita,' also spelled 'jilivrilca' (? house- wolves), is doubtful; cf. H. Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, p. 8. Prof. Weber, Ind. Stud. I, p. 413, makes the suggestion that ' wehrwolves ' may be intended.
Digitized by
7 2 5'ATAP ATHA-BRAhMAJVA.
* Do not take this to heart ! there is no friendship
with women : return home ! ' this is what she meant
to say.
ID. (^eg-veda X, 95, 16), 'When changed in
form, I walked among mortals, and passed the
nights there during four autumns^ I ate a little
ghee, once a day, and even now I feel satisfied
therewith ^/ — This discourse in fifteen verses has
been handed down by the BahvW>6as \ Then her
heart took pity on him *.
II. She said, 'Come here the last night of the
year from now * : then shalt thou lie with me for
one night, and then this son of thine will have been
born.' He came there on the last night of the year,
and lo, there stood a golden palace • ! They then
^ The words * ritri^ ^radax iatasra^ ' may also be taken in the sense of * four nights of the autumn ' (Max Mtiller, A. Kuhn). It needs hardly to be remarked that ' nights ' means days and nights, and ' autumns ' years. — Sdya^a takes the passage in the sense of
* four delightful (r&lrt^ ramayitrt^) autumns or years/
* Literally, I walk (or go on, keep) being satisfied therewith. Prof. Geldner, however, takes it in an ironical sense, ' das Bischen liegt mir jetzt noch schwer im Magen ' ( * even now I have quite enough of that little ').
* That is, the theologians of the J?/g-veda. As Prof. Weber points out, the hymn referred to, in the received version, consists not of fifteen but of eighteen verses, three of which would therefore seem to be of later origin (though they might, of course, belong to a different recension from that referred to by the Br&hma^a).
* Or, according to Prof. Geldner, ' Then he touched her heart (excited her pity).'
* Literally, the yearliest night, i. e. the 360th night, the last night of a year from now, or, this night next year : it is the night that completes the year, just as 'the fifth' completes the number ' five,' — samvatsaratamim sajRvatsarapi^rantm antimdm r&trim, Sdy. Cf. Delbrtick, Altind. Syntax, p. 195.
* Hira»yavimitSni hira/xyanirmit&ni saudhdni, S&y.
Digitized by
XI KAJVDA, 5 adhyAya, I brAhmajva, 14. 73
said to him only this (word) \ * Enter ! ' and then they bade her go to him.
12. She then said, 'To-morrow morning the Gan-
dharvas will grant thee a boon, and thou must make
thy choice/ He said, ' Choose thou for me ! ' — She
replied, * Say, Let me be one of yourselves!' In
the morning the Gandharvas granted him a boon ;
and he said, * Let me be one of yourselves ! *
13. They said, 'Surely, there is not among men
that holy form of fire by sacrificing wherewith one
would become one of ourselves/ They put fire
into a pan, and gave it to him sa3dng, ' By sacrificing
therewith thou shalt become one of ourselves/ He
took it (the fire) and his boy, and went on his way
home. He then deposited the fire in the forest,
and went to the village with the boy alone. [He
came back and thought] 'Here I am back;' and
lo! it had disappeared*: what had been the fire
was an Axvattha tree (ficus religiosa), and what
had been the pan was a 6aml tree (mimosa suma).
He then returned to the Gandharvas.
14. They said, 'Cook for a whole year a mess
of rice sufficient for four persons ; and taking each
time three logs from this Axvattha tree, anoint
them with ghee, and put them on the fire with
^ Thus also A. Kuhn, and S&yana, tato hainam ekam tiMxr etat, prapadyasveti, — enam PuriiravasaiR tatratyft ^^and idam ekam thih, Sdy. — The word * ekam ' might also be taken along with * enam ' (Max Mttller, Weber, Geldner), — 'they said this to him alone' (? they bade him enter alone witliout his attendants).
* See above, paragraph 4 and note i on p. 70. According to the other interpretation we should have to translate: — He then de- posited the fire in the forest, and went to the village with the boy alone, thinking, ' I (shall) come back.' [He came back] and lo I it had disappeared.
Digitized by
74 i^ATAPATHA-BRAHMAiVA.
verses containing the words "log" and "ghee": the
fire which shall result therefrom will be that very
fire (which is required)/
1 5. They said, * But that is recondite (esoteric),
as it were. Make thyself rather an upper ara«i^
of Aivattha wood, and a lower ara»i of 6aml wood :
the fire which shall result therefrom will be that
very fire/
16. They said, * But that also is, as it were,
recondite. Make thyself rather an upper ara»i of
A^vattha wood, and a lower ara^i of A^vattha
wood : the fire which shall result therefrom will be
that very fire/
17. He then made himself' an upper aram of
Axvattha wood, and a lower ara/^i of A,fvattha
wood ; and the fire which resulted therefrom was
that very fire : by offering therewith he became one
of the Gandharvas. Let him therefore make
himself an upper and a lower ara«i of A^vattha
wood, and the fire which results therefrom will be
that very fire : by offering therewith he becomes
one of the Gandharvas.
Second BrAhmajv^a.
The Seasonal Sacrifices (AUturmisya).
I . By means of the Seasonal sacrifices, Prs^pati
fashioned for himself a body. The sacrificial food
for the Vai^vadeva* sacrifice he made to be this
' That is, a chuming-stick used for producing fire ; see part i, p. 275; p. 294, note 3.
• The Vaixvadeva, or first of the four seasonal sacrifices, requires the following oblations: — i. a cake on eight potsherds to Agni; 2. a pap to Soma; 3. a cake on twelve or eight potsherds to
Digitized by
XI kAjvda, 5 adhyAya, 2 brAhmaj^a, 3. 75
right arm of his ; the oblation to Agni thereof this
thumb ; that to Soma this (fore-finger) ; and that to
Savitr^' this (middle finger).
2. That cake (to 'Savitrt), doubtless, is the largest,
and hence this (middle finger) is the largest of these
(fingers). That (oblation) to Sarasvatl is this (third)
finger ; and that to POshan this (little finger). And
that (oblation) to the Maruts is this joint above the
hand (the wrist) ; and that to the Vi,fve Dev&A is
this (elbow ^); and that to Heaven and Earth is this
arm : this (oblation) is indistinct*, whence that limb
also is indistinct \
3. The Varu»apraghAsa* offerings are this right
leg, — the five oblations which this has in common
(with the other Seasonal offerings) are these five
toes; and the oblation to Indra and Agni is the
knuckles : this (oblation) belongs to two deities
Savitr/; 4. a pap to Sarasvatl ; 5. a pap to P(ishan — these first hwe oblations recur at all seasonal offerings; — 6. a cake on seven potsherds to the Manits; 7. a dish of clotted curds to the Vlrve Deva^ ; 8. a cake on one potsherd to Heaven and Earth.
^ It would rather seem that what is intended here by ' sa/ndhi ' is not the joints themselves, but the limbs (in the anatomical sense) between the articulations. Similarly in ' trishandhi ' in parag. 7.
* That is to say, it is a low-voiced offering, the two formulas, with the exception of the final Om and Vauslia/, being pronounced in a low voice. All cakes on one potsherd are (except those to Varu«a) of this description ; Kity. ^r. IV, 5, 3 ; Ajv. St, II, 15, 5 ; cf. 5at. Br. II, 4, 3, 8.
' That is, not clearly defined ; the word ' dos,* which is more usually restricted to the fore-arm, being also usi-d for the whole arm, and even the upper arm.
^ The Varuiiapraghdsd^, or second seasonal sacrifice, has the following oblations : — 1-5. the common oblations ; 6. a cake on twelve potsherds to Indra and Agni ; 7. 8. two dishes of clotted curds for Varuna and the Maruts respectively ; 9. a cake on one potsherd for Ka (Prs^pati).
Digitized by
76 ^atapatha-brAhmajva.
whence there are these two knuckles. That (obla-
tion) to Varu«a is this (shank) ; that to the Maruts
this (thigh) ; and that (cake) to Ka is this back-bone :
this (oblation) is indistinct, whence that (back-bone)
is indistinct.
4. The offering to (Agni) Antkavat (of the Sdka-
medhd^'), doubtless, is his (Pra^pati's) mouth, for
the mouth is the extreme end (antka) of the vital
airs; the Sdw^tapantyi (pap) is the chest, for by
the chest one is, as it were, confined* (saw-tap);
the G^Aamedhtyd (ps^p) is the belly — to serve as
a foundation, for the belly is a foundation ; the
Krai^^ma oblation is the male organ, for it is there-
with that (man) sports (kr!^/), as it were ; and the
offering to Aditi* is this downward breathing.
5. The Great Oblation, indeed, is this left leg, —
the five oblations which it has in common (with the
other Seasonal offerings) are these five toes; and
the oblation to Indra and Agni is the knuckles : this
(oblation) belongs to two deities whence there are
^ The Sikamedhi^, or third seasonal sacrifice, consists of the following oblations: — i. a cake on eight potsherds to Agni Anfkavat ; 2. 3. paps to the ManitaA SSmtapandA and Manita^ Griliamedhina^ ; 4. a cake on seven potsherds to the Maruta^ Kri^ma^ ; 5. a pap to Aditi. Then follows the Great Oblation consisting of 6-10, the five common oblations; 11. a cake on twelve potsherds to Indra and Agni ; 12. a pap to Mahendra; and 13. a cake on one potsherd to Vixvakarman. Then follows the Pitriya^a.
• Or, according to Sdya/ia, one gets oppressed or heated on account of the close proximity of the heart and the digestive fire, — urasd hridaya-sambandh^ ^^^rasannivex^ k^ sa/ntdpana-visha- yatvam.
' This offering of a cake to Aditi, mentioned in KSty. ^r. V, 7, 2, is not referred to in the Brdhma»a's account of the Sikamedhdi^, «ee II, 5, 3, 20.
Digitized by
XI kXnda, 5 adhyAya, 2 brahma-ya, 8. 77
these two knuckles. The (oblation) to Mahendra is
this (shank) ; that to Vi^akarman this (thigh) : this
(oblation) is indistinct, whence this (thigh) also is
indistinct
6. The 5'un4slrlya\ doubtless, is this left arm, —
the five oblations which it has in common (with the
other Seasonal offerings) are these five fingers;
the ^unAslrlya is that joint of his above the hand ;
that (oblation) to Viyu is this (elbow) ; that to Siirya
this arm : this (oblation) is indistinct, whence this
(limb) also is indistinct.
7. Now these Seasonal offerings are tripartite and
furnished with two joints*, whence these limbs of
man are tripartite and furnished with two joints.
Two of these four (sacrifices) have each three indis-
tinct (low-voiced) oblations ; and two of them have
two each \
8. At all four of them they churn out the fire,
* The 5'unds!r!ya, or last Seasonal offering, consists of— 1-5. the common oblations; 6. the iSundstrtya cake on twelve pot- sherds ; 7. a milk oblation to Vdyu ; 8. a cake on one potsherd to Sftiya.
* The Seasonal offerings are performed so as to leave an interval of four months between them ; the fourth falling exactly a year after the first ; hence the whole performance consists, as it were, of three periods of four months each, with two joints between them ; — corresponding to the formation of the arms and legs.
