* That is, not only the twenty-one*fold Stoma, but also the other two twenty-one-fold objects, looked upon as Stomas (iit« ' means of praise').
Digitized by
XIII kAjVDA, 3 ADHYAyA, 3 BRAHMAiVA, lO. 335
twenty-one-versed, run counter to one another:
were he to bring them together, the Sacrificer would
suffer harm, and his sacrifice would be destroyed.
8. There may, indeed, be a twelvefold altar, and
eleven stakes. When the altar is a twelvefold
one — twelve months being a year — it is the year,
the sacrifice, he obtains: When there are eleven
stakes, then that Vir^f (metre), the £kida5inl\ is
contrived; and that which is its eleventh (stake)
is its teat : thereby he milks it
9. As to this they say, * If there were a twelvefold
altar, and eleven stakes, it would be as if one were
to drive on a cart drawn by one beast' There are
the twenty-one-fold altar, the twenty-one-fold Stoma,
and twenty-one stakes : that is as when one drives
with side-horses.
10. That twenty-one-fold one, indeed, is the head
of the sacrifice; and, verily, he who knows three
heads on the Arvamedha, becomes the head of
kings. There are the twenty-one-fold altar, the
twenty-one-fold Stoma, and twenty-one stakes: these
are the three heads on the Arvamedha ; and, verily,
he who thus knows them becomes the head of
kings. And, indeed, he who knows the three tops
on the A^amedha, becomes the top of kings; —
there are the twenty-one-fold altar, the twenty-one-
fold Stoma, and twenty-one stakes : these, indeed,
are the three tops on the A^vamedha ; and, verily,
he who thus knows them becomes the top of
kings.
^ Viz. the set of eleven (stakes), here represented as a cow ; but in order to assimilate- it to the Vir^, or metre consisting of ten syllables, the eleventh stake is made the teat or udder of the cow*
Digitized by
336 5?ATAPATHA-BRAHMAi^A.
Fourth Brahma^a.
I. Verily, the horse is slaughtered for all the
deities : were he to make it one belonging to
Pra^pati (exclusively), he would deprive the deities
who are co-sharers of their share. Having made
ghee (to take the part of) portions (of the horse's
body) he makes oblations * to the deities in mention-
ing them one by one with (V4f. S. XXV, 1-9),
*The Grass (I gratify) with the teeth, the
Lotus with the roots of the hair, ...:* the
deities who are co-sharers he thus supplies with
their share. When he has offered the Arawye
-nCb^ya (oblations)*, he offers the last oblation to
' These oblations of ghee, apparently amounting to 1 3 2 , are made, after the principal flesh -portions have been offered, viz. in the interval between the ghee oblation to Vanaspati (the lord of the forest, or the plant, Soma) and the Svish/akrft oblation, for which see part ii, pp. 208-9 ; each formula, as a rule, containing the name of some divinity, and that of some part of the body of the horse sup- posed to be represented by the ghee (by four ladlings of which the offering spoon is filled each time). Mahfdhara, apparently in accordance with the Brihma;ia, supplies * pri/fimi (I gratify) ' with each (complete) formula which then concludes with ' svdhd (hail) I ' According to other authorities, however, these formulas are each to be divided into two separate dedicatory formulas : — * To the Grass hail I To the Teeth hail!' &c.— The last of the 132 oblations (with the formula, ' To Gumbaka, hail ! ') is, however, withheld for the present to be offered (or perhaps the formula alone is to be muttered) at the end of the purificatory bath (avabhrilha) towards the end of the sacrifice on the third day.
' The term 'ara«ye«nfi/fcya' ('to be recited In the forest') we met before (IX, 3, i, 24) as applying to the last of seven cakes offered to the Maruts immediately after the installation of Agni (the sacred fire) on the newly-built altar. The formula used for that cake is the so-called Vimukha-verse, V5^. S. XXXIX, 7. This
Digitized by
XIII kXnda, 3 adhyAya, 4 brAhmajva, 3. 337
Heaven and Earth ; for all the gods are established
in heaven and on earth : it is them he thereby
gratifies. Now the gods and the Asuras were
contending together.
2. They (the gods) spake, ' We are the AgnayaA
Svish/ak;^/ta^ * of the horse (sacrifice) ; let us take
out for ourselves a special share: therewith we
shall overcome the Asuras.' They took the blood
for themselves in order to overcome their rivals :
when he offers the blood to the Svish/akr^'ts,
it is in order to overcome (his own) rivals; and
the spiteful rival of him who knows this is undone
by himself.
3. The first oblation (of blood) he offers * in the
verse is followed in the Sa/whit4 by a series of twenty formulas (lb. 8-9) of a similar nature to those referred to in the preceding note (i. e. consisting each of a deity and a part of the body of the horse — * Agni I gratify with the heart,' &c.), and these again by forty-two expiatory formulas (* To the hair, hail ! * &c., ib. 10- 13), ending with, 'To Yama, hail! To Antaka (the Ender), hail ! To Death, hail ! To (the) Brahman, hail ! To Brahman- slaying, hail I To the All-gods, hail I To Heaven and Earth, hail ! ' These sixty-two formulas are used with as many ghee-oblations,* which are to be performed immediately after the 13131 of the previous set of oblations. Prior, however, again to the last of the forty-two expiatory oblations, (viz. the one made with * To Heaven and Earth, hail I ') there is another set of sixteen oblations (XIII, 3, 6, I seqq.), the so-called * Ajvastomtyi ihutaya^ ' or ' oblations relating to the Stomas of the horse (sacrifice),' each of which has a complete couplet for its offering-formula (Vig. S. XXV, 24-39). To all these three sets of oblations the term ' arawye *nii^ya ' is here extended by the author. At the end of the third set this succession of ghee-oblations is concluded with the last expiatory oblation, that to Heaven and Earth ; whereupon the ordinary flesh-oblation to Agni Svish/akrrt is performed.
* I. e. the (three) fires, the makers of good offering.
* The formula for each of these three special blood-oblations—^
Digitized by
338 ^ATAPATHA-BRAHMAi^A,
throat (gullet) of the Gomriga ^ ; for Gomr/gas are cattle, and the Svishfekm is Rudra: he thus
offered immediately after the ordinary Svish/akrA oblation, and being, in fact, the special Svish/akrit of the Ajvamedha — is ' Agnibhya^ svisb/akridbhyaA svdhd, i.e. to the (three) Agnis, the makers of good offering, hail !'
* * Gomr;ga ' is usually taken by the commentators, and in our dictionaries, as another name of the *Gavaya/ variously called Gayil, Bos Gavaeus, Bos frontalis, or Bos cavifrons, a species of wild cattle found in various mountain districts of India (especially on the eastern boundaries of Bengal, and in Malabar, as also in Ceylon), and frequently domesticated amongst the hill-tribes, by whom it is valued for its flesh and milk (cf. Colebrooke's paper, As. Res. VIII, p. 511 seqq.). The Gavaya itself is, however, as Colebrooke remarks, confounded by some Sanskrit writers with the *7?wya,' which he takes to be the buck of the painted, or white- footed (or slate-coloured) Antelope, the Portax pictus (or Antelope picta), also called by the vernacular names of Nilgau or (Mahr.) Nilgdy, whilst the female is called *rohit' in Sanskrit All these three animals occur amongst the wild animals to be used as quasi-victims, but ultimately released on the second day of the Arvamedha; and I am inclined to think that ihey are three different animals. To show that the i?wya and the Gavaya can- not be the same animals, Colebrooke already refers to the fact that three J?7jyas (consecrated to the Vasus) and three Gavayas (to Bri"haspati) occur as victims side by side in V^asaneyi- samhiid XXIV (27 and 38); and in the same way a Gomr/ga, sacred to Pra^apati and Viyu, is mentioned immediately after, ib. 30 ; whilst another, sacred to Pra^pati, was, as we saw, one of the two animals tied along with the horse to the central stake (see XIII, 2, 2, 2). Taitt. S. II, i, 10, 2, treating of the sacrifice of a Gomr/ga to Yiyu, remarks that it is neither a domestic animal (or cattle, pam) nor a wild one ; and Saya^sa explains it as a cross between a female deer (or antelope, mngt) and a bull that has gone with his cows to graze in the forest; whilst, on Taitt. Br. Ill, 8, 20, 5, he leaves one to choose between its being a vicious bull (dhfirto balfvarda^), dangerous to men, or an animal 'of mixed breed, sprung from a cow and a male gazelle or antelope (goharifiayoA, or possibly, from parent beasts of the bovine and antelope species).' In this latter passage, the editor
Digitized by
XIII KAiVDA, 3 ADHYAYA, 5 BRAHMAiVA, I. 339
shields the cattle from Rudra, whence Rudra does
not prowl after the cattle where this oblation is
offered at the A,yvamedha.
4. The second oblation^ he offers on a horse-
hoof; for the one-hoofed (animals) are cattle, and the
Svish/akm is Rudra: he thus shields the cattle from
Rudra, whence Rudra does not prowl after the cattle
where this oblation is offered at the A^vamedha,
5. The third oblation he offers in an iron bowl ;
for the people (subjects) are of iron*, and the
Svish/akm is Rudra : he thus shields the people
from Rudra, whence Rudra does not prowl after
the cattle where this oblation is offered at the
A^amedha.
Fifth Brahmajva,
I, Verily, there are deaths^ connected with all
the worlds; and were he not to offer oblations to
them, Death would get hold of him in every world ;
of the Brdhma^a (in the list of contents, p. 53) takes it to mean 'wild cattle (Ntlagiio gomnga, en-oneously explained as a cross between a deer and a cow)/ which would be a probable enough explanation, if the i?»*jya were not the Ntlgau ; whilst otherwise the animal might belong to some other species of bovine antelopes no longer found in India.
^ Whilst the first of these oblations must take place immediately after the ordinary Svish/akr/t of the animal sacrifice, the second may be postponed till after the * after-offerings ' ; and the third till after the ' Patnfsa/vyS^s/ See also XIII, 5, 3, 8 seq.
* That is, their value — as compared with that of the king or nobles, and the Brihma^as — is that of iron, compared with that of gold and silver; cp. XIII, 2, 2, 19.
' That is, according to Saya;ia, on Taitt* Br. Ill, 9, 15, i, causes of death, such as diseases, &c.
Digitized by
740 ^ATAPATHA-BRAHMAiVA.
when he offers oblations to the Deaths*, he wards off Death in every world.
2. Concerning this they say, 'If, in offering, he
were to name them all, saying, ** To such * (a death)
hail! To such (a death) hail!" he would make
that manifold death his enemy', and would give
himself over to Death/ Only one oblation he
offers to one of them, with, 'To Death, hail!*
for there is indeed but one Death in yonder
world, even Hunger*: it is him he wards off in
yonder world.
3. A second oblation he makes with, 'To Brahman-
slaying, hail !' for, doubtless, a murder other than the
slaying of a Brahman is no murder ; but that — to
wit, the slaying of a Brahman — is manifestly murder:
he thus manifestly wards off Death *.
' The oblations referred to in this Br&hmaiia (§§ 1-4) occur towards the end of the second set of 'aranyesniUya' obla- tions mentioned above, p. 336, note 2, where the formulas are given. According to Taitt. Br., I.e., however, these final oblations are to be performed — like that to Gumbaka (Vanwa) — at the time of the purificatory bath, which, indeed, may also be intended by our Brahma^ia, though Kdty&yana and Mahfdhara seem to offer no indications to that effect. It is clear that these final oblations must have formed the subject of considerable discussion among the early ritualists.
» That is, according to Siya«a (Taitt. Br.), * To death in the shape of disease, to death in the shape of poverty, &c.' Hari- sv&min, on our passage, has merely, 'Amushmai pitrilokdya mri'tyave' — * To death (in the shape of) the world of the Fathers,' which is not very clear.
' Or, perhaps, he would make himself many a death-enemy
(bahum mn'tyum amitra^^ kurvtta), the two nouns being taken
as in apposition to each other; cf. p. 146, note i.
* See X, 6, 5, i.
* Or, he thus wards off what is manifestly Death (Death in person).
