• * Vasha/' is the sacrificial call uttered by the Hotri'at the end of the 'y^igyiy or offering- verse of a regular oblation (dhuti) as distinguished from minor libations, such as homas and ftghdras, which require no * y9gy%' and for which the sacrificial call — marking the pouring out of the libation into the fire — is *svShdr The meaning of 'vasha/' is doubtful; but it would seem to be con- nected either with the root 'vaksh,' to grow, to wax, or with ' vah,' to bear ; and would thus mean either * may it prosper I ' or * may he (Agni) bear it (to the gods) ! ' By the mention of the Svdhd in our formula the horse is, as it were, marked as dedicated to the gods.
' Or, perhaps, he causes it to succeed by means, or with the help, of its own deity.
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2 78 ^ATAPATHA-BRAHMAiVA.
ment to the Brahman, he ties up the horse, and
thus incurs no injury. * Fetter it for the gods,
for Pra^^pati : prosper thou therewith ! ' thus the
Brahman urges him, and supplies it (the horse)
with its own deity. He then sprinkles it (with
water) : the (symbolic) meaning of this is the same
as before ^
5. He sprinkles 2 it, with (Va^. S. XXH, 5),
*I sprinkle thee (so as to be) acceptable to
Pra^4pati,' — for Pra^pati is the most vigorous
of the gods : it is vigour he bestows on it, whence
the horse is the most vigorous of animals.
6. * I sprinkle thee, acceptable to Indra and
Agni/ — for Indra and Agni are the most powerful
of the gods : it is power he bestows on it, whence
the horse is the most powerful of animals.
7. *I sprinkle thee, acceptable to Vdyu/ —
for V4yu is the swiftest of gods : it is speed he
bestows on it, whence the horse is the swiftest
of animals.
8. *I sprinkle thee, acceptable to the All-
gods/ — for the All-gods are the most famous of
gods : it is fame he bestows on it, whence the horse
is the most famous of animals. — * I sprinkle thee,
acceptable to all the gods.'
9. Concerning this they say, 'Seeing that the
horse is sacred to Pra^pati, wherefore (does he
say), " I sprinkle thee " for other deities also ? ' Well,
all the gods are concerned in the horse-sacrifice ;
* For the sprinkling of (the material for) oblations see I, i, 3, 6 seq. ; and an animal victim in particular, III, 7, 4, 3.
• According to Kdty. XX, i, 37, he goes with the horse to stagnant water, and there sprinkles it. It would seem that the horse stands in the water during this ceremony.
Digitized by
XIII KkSDA, I ADHYAyA, 2 BRAHMAiVA, 9. 279
when he says, * I sprinkle thee for all the gods/
he makes all the gods take a concern in the horse-
sacrifice ; whence all the gods are concerned in the
horse-sacrifice. But his wicked enemy seeks to lay
hold of him who performs the horse-sacrifice, and
the horse is a thunderbolt ; — having killed the four-
eyed dog, he — with 'Undone^ is the man!
undone is the dog!' — plunges* it under the
horses feet: it is by means of the thunderbolt
* Mahtdhara explains 'para^' by * pardbhiita^, adhaspada/Ti nita^,' i.e. defeated, laid low. Perhaps it may mean, *Away is the man, away the dog ! ' As given in tfee V^. Sa/wh., this is only the last part of the fonnula, pronounced by the Sacrificer ; whilst during the killing of the dog, he is made to say, 'Whosoever seeketh to slay the steed, him Varu«a besetteth/ — Accord- ing to Kdty. XX, I, 38 seqq., the priest says to an Ayogava (the offspring of a Stidrs, father and a Vzisyii mother)— or, to a lewd man, according to others — 'Kill the four-eyed dog I' whereupon the man kills a dog by means of a club of Sidhraka wood ; and (the priest?), by means of a rattan hoop (For mat, ka/a, comm. ka/aka), makes the dead dog float beneath the horse. According to the comment, on Kdty. XX, i, 38, in case a four-eyed dog — i. e. a (two-faced) one * yasya dve mukhe ' and hence looking in the four (intermediate) directions (vidij). Say. — is not available (!), a dog with marks about the eyes should be used. The mention of the • four-footed ' dog in the formula is, however, doubtless meant merely symbolically, as representing evil threatening the Sacrificer from every quarter.
• Harisvdmin seems to connect this with the sprinkling of the horse itself— proksha«a/« mna upaplavanam U/tyate — perhaps in the sense that the water flowing down from the sprinkled horse would soak the dog, in which case the horse would apparendy be supposed to stand on the dry ground. See, however, comm. on Kity. XX, 2, 2, '«Svinam ajvasy^dha^pradexe ^lamadhye plivayati tdrayati.' The 'offerings of drops' to be performed immediately after this ceremony might seem to be offered with reference to the drops of water flowing from the horse, and as it were falling outside the sacrifice; but see paragraph 5.
Digitized by
28o iSATAPATHA-BRAhMAJVA.
he thus stamps him down ; and the wicked enemy does not lay hold of him.
Third BrAhmana.
1. Even as some of the havis (offering-material)
may be spilled before it is offered, so also (part)
of the victim is here spilled in that they let loose
the sprinkled (horse) before it is slain. When he
offers the Stoklyfis (oblations of drops), he offers
that (horse) as a complete offering ' — so as to make
good any spilling*; for unspilled is any (part) of
the offered (material) that is spilled. A thousand
(oblations of drops) he offers for the obtainment
of the heavenly world, for the heavenly world is
equal in extent to a thousand.
2. Concerning this they say, *Were he to offer
measured (a specified number of oblations), he
would gain for himself something limited : ' he
offers unspecified (oblations) for the obtainment
of the unlimited. And indeed Prag^pati spake,
'Verily, upon the oblations of drops I establish
the Ai'vamedha, and by it, when established, I pass
upward from hence.'
3. [He offers, with V4^. S. XXII, 6,] ' To Agni,
haiir — to Agni he thus offers it (the horse*); —
* to Soma, hail ! '—to Soma he thus offers it ; — 'to
the joy of the waters, hail!' — to the waters
he thus offers it; — *to Savitr/, hail!' — to Savitr/
^ Cf. I, I, 4, 3; 3» 3» 16 seqq.; IV, 2, 5, 1 seqq.
^ Lit., for non-spilling, i. e. to neutralise any spilling that may have taken place.
' Harisvimin seems rather to lay the stress on the direct object : — agnaye param ev^am ^hoti na kevalam fi^yam. The context, however, does not admit of this interpretation.
Digitized by
XIII kA/vda, I adhyAva, 3 brahmajva, 5. 281
he thus offers it; — *to V4yu, hail!'— to V&yu (the
wind) he thus offers it; — *to Vishwu, hail!' — to
Vish«u he thus offers it; — 'to Indra, hail!' —
to Indra he thus offers it; — ' to Br/haspati, hail I '
— to Bre'haspati he thus offers it; — *to Mitra,
hail!' — to Mitra he thus offers it; — *to Varuwa,
hail!' — to Varu«a he thus offers it: — so many,
doubtless, are all the gods : it is to them he offers
it. He offers them straight away^ for the obtain-
ment of the heavenly world, for straight away, as it
were, is the heavenly world.
4. But, verily, he who offers the oblations straight
away, would be liable to fall (pass) right away*:
he turns back again ^ and establishes himself in
this (terrestrial) world. And this* indeed he
(Pra^pati) has declared to be the perfection of
the sacrifice, so as to prevent falling away (spilling),
for unspilled is what is spilled of the offered
(material).
5. And even as some of the offering-material may be spilled before it is offered, so also (part) of the
* According to K&ty. XX, 2, 3-5, he offers either a thousand oblations, or as many as he can offer till the dripping of the water from the horse has ceased. For every ten oblations he uses the formulas here given, after which he begins again from the beginning. The 'straight on' apparently means that he is neither to break the order of the deities, nor to offer more than one oblation at a time to the same deity.
* That is, he would die; 'praittty arthaA/ Comm. The St. Petersburg Diet., on the other hand, takes < ixvara^ pradaghaA * in the sense of ' liable to fall down headlong ' (absttirzen).
' That is, by commencing the ten oblations again from the beginning.
* Viz. repetition of performance, — et^m eva ksi sa pra^patir ivrtiiimsAXSim ya^asya samsthitim {uwiH), On repetitions in the chanting of stotras, see III, 2, 5, 8; cf. also XII, 2, 3, 13.
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282 ^ATAPATHA'BRAhMA^A.
victim is here spilled in that they let loose the
sprinkled (horse) before it is slaughtered. When
he offers (the oblations relating to) the Forms*
(rfipa), he offers that (horse) as one that is wholly
offered, so as to make good any spilling; for
unspilled is what is spilled of the offered (material).
With(V^.S. XXII,7-8*)/To the Hih-call, hail!
to the (horse) consecrated by Hih, hail!../
' These forty-nine oblations performed after the letting loose of the horse, are called Prakramas (i.e. steps, or movements); cf. XIII, 4, 3, 4 ; Kaiy. XX, 3, 3.--Harisv&min remarks, ajvadi- phihn hinkdradind/Ti nishkrama^atmiki (I) rApikhyd ahutaja uk- yante, td evitra prakramd iti vakshyante.
* These (rather pedantic) formulas, all of them ending in < sv&hS,' occupy two KsLndik&9 of the Sa/«hita, consisting of 24 and 25 formulas respectively: — i. To the hinkSra, svihdl 2. To the one consecrated by * bin,' hail 1 3. To the whinnying one, hail I 4. To the neighing, hail 1 5. To the snorting one, hail ! 6. To the snort, hail I 7. To smell, hail ! 8. To the (thing) smelled, hail ! 9. To the stabled one, hail! 10. To the resting one, hail! 11. To the clipped one, haill 12. To the prancing one, hail! 13. To the seated one, hail I 14. To the lying one, hail 1 15. To the sleeping one, hail I 16. To the waking one, hail f 17. To the groaning one, hail! 18. To the awakened one, hail! 19. To the yawning one, hail ! 20. To the untethered one, hail 1 21. To the upstarting one, hail ! 22. To the standing one, hail ! 23. To the starting one, hail ! 24. To the advancing one, hail! — 25. To the trotting one, hail! 26. To the running one, hail 1 27. To the bolting one, hail I 28. To tlie flighty one, hail! 29. To the geeho, hail! 30. To the one urged on by geeho, hail! 31. To the prostrate one, hail! 32. To the risen one, hail ! 33. To the swift one, hail ! 34. To the strong one, hail ! 35. To the turning one, hail ! 36. To the turned one, hail! 37. To the shaking one, hail ! 38. To the shaken one, hail! 39. To the obedient one, hail! 40. To the listening one, hail! 41. To the looking one, hail ! 42. To the one looked at, hail ! 43. To the out-looking one, hail ! 44. To the winking one, hail! 45. To what it eats, hail! 46. To what it drinks, hail! 47. To the water it makes, hail! 48. To the working one, haill 49. To the wrought one, hail !
Digitized by
XIII kUnDA, 1 ADHYAyA, 3 BRAHMAiVA, 8. 283
(he offers them) ; for these are the forms (qualities) of the horse : it is them he now obtains.
6. Concerning this they say, * The Forms are no
offering : they should not be offered/ But, indeed,
they also say, * Therein assuredly the horse-sacrifice
becomes complete that he performs (the oblations
relating to) the Forms : they should certainly be
offered/ And, indeed, one puts that (Sacrificer)
out of his resting-place, and raises a rival for him
when one offers for him oblations elsewhere than
in the fire \ where there is no resting-place.
7. Prior to the (first) oblation to Savitr^ ^, he (the
Adhvaryu) offers, once only, (the oblations relating
to) the Forms ^ in the Ahavanfya, whilst going
rapidly over (the formulas) : he thus offers the
oblations at his (the Sacrificer's) resting-place, and
raises no rival for him. He offers at each opening
of sacrifice*, for the continuity and uninterrupted
performance of the sacrifice.
