^ The post is to be furcate at the top, and between the branch- stumps (forming as it were its ears) he is to put a piece of gold and pour the ghee thereon ; when the ghee reaches the ground, he is to pronounce the final ' Svaha ! ' in accordance with the practice at the homas; the gold representing, as it were, the sacrificial fire. Saya/za on Taitt. S. I, 3, i; Katy. VIII, 5, 37 seq.
^ That is, after putting up the posts of the front and back doors, and laying the beams on, both longways and crossways, in the same way as was done in erecting the Pra/^inava?«ja and Havirdhana, he is to spread over the beams the nine mats that are to form the ceiling, — viz. first the middle, and then the two others, of the three southern ones, thereupon three alongside these, across the central part of the shed, and finally the three across the north side. According to some authorities the central mats are laid down first, and then those on the south and north sides. See Sayawa on Taitt. S. I, 3, I (p. 450).
146 .SATAPATHA-BRAHMAiVA.
is threefold and nine also Is threefold : for this reason there are nine.
23. That Sadas has its tie-beams running (from
south) to north, and the cart-shed (from west) to east.
For this, the cart-shed, belongs exclusively to the
gods : hence neither food ncr drink is taken therein,
because it belongs exclusively to the gods ; and were
any one either to eat or to drink therein, his head
would verily burst asunder. But those two, the
Agnidhra and the Sadas, are common (to the gods
and men) : hence food and drink is taken in these
two, because they are common (to the gods and men).
Now the north is the quarter of men : therefore the
Sadas has its tie-beams running (from south) to
north.
24. They enclose it\ with the text (Va^. S. V, 29 ;
Rig-veda I, 10, 12), 'May thesesongs encompass
thee on every side, O thou that delightest in
songs ! May these favours be favourably
received by thee, invigorating the vigorous !'
He that delights in songs, forsooth, is Indra, and
songs mean the people : he thus surrounds the
nobility with the people, and therefore the nobility is
here surrounded on both sides by the people.
25. Thereupon he sews (the hurdles to the posts)
with a needle and cord 2, with the text (Va^^. S. V, 30),
'Thou art Indra's sewer.' With, 'Thou art
I ndra's fixed (point),' he then makes a knot, ' lest it
should fall asunder.' He undoes it again, when the
work is completed ; and thus disease befalls not either
the Adhvaryu or the Sacrificer. When completed, he
^ Viz. with hurdles, or upright grass-mats, fastened to the door-
posts by means of cord.
^ See III, 5, 3, 25.
Ill KANDA, 6 ADHYAYA, I BRAHMAiVA, 28. 1 47
touches it (the Sadas) with, 'Thou art Indra's own ! ' for the Sadas belongs to Indra.
26. In the north — with regard to the back part of
the Soma-carts^ — he then raises the Agnidhra (shed).
One half of it should be inside the altar, and one half
outside ; or more than one half may be inside the
altar and less outside ; or the whole of it may be in-
side the altar. When completed, he touches it with,
' Thou art the All-gods' own ! ' To the All-gods
it belongs, because on the day before (the Soma
feast) the All-gods abide in it by the Vasativari water.
27. Now, once on a time, the gods, while per-
forming sacrifice, were afraid of an attack on the part
of the Asura-Rakshas. The Asura-Rakshas attacked
them from the south and forced them out of the
Sadas, and overturned those hearths (dhish;^ya) of
theirs which are within the Sadas.
28. For, indeed, all of those (hearths) at one time
burnt as brightly as this Ahavaniya and the Gar-
hapatya and the Agnidhriya ; but ever since that time
when they (the Asuras) overturned them they do not
burn. They forced them (the gods) back to the
Agnidhra (fire) and even won from them one half of
the Agnidhra. From there the All-gods gained
immortality^, — whence it (the Agnidhra fire) is sacred
to the All-gods.
^ North of the clog (apalamba) of the carts, Kawva rec.
^ They gained it, as would seem, by means of the other half of the Agnidhra fire. Cf. Ait. Br. II, 36. Sayawa interprets ' tan apy ardham agnidhrasya ^igyus ' by, ' [They forced those (gods) back to the Sadas ;] and they (the gods), having reached the side (ardham = samipam) of the Agnidhra (fire), conquered the Asuras and won immortality.' The Ka«va rec. reads : — ' Te hapy agni- dhrasyardhawz ^gyus te 'rdhan (1 read 'rdhad) etad vi^ve deva amr/tatvam apa^ayan.'
148 5'ATAPATHA-BRAHMAiVA.
29. The gods kindled them again, as one would
(light the fire where he is going to) stay. There-
fore they are kindled at every Soma feast. Where-
fore the duties of the Agnidh should be discharged
by one who is accomplished. Now he who is known
and learned in sacred lore ^ is truly accomplished :
hence they take to the Agnidh his Dakshi/za first ^
since it is from thence (from the Agnidh's fire) that
the gods gained immortality. And if weakness were
to come upon one of those that are consecrated, let
(the Adhvaryu) say, ' Lead him to the Agnidhra ! ' —
thinking ' that is unscathed, there he will not meet
with affliction ^' And because the All-gods gained
immortality from there, therefore it is sacred to the
All-gods.
Second BRAHMAiVA.. I. The Dhish;^ya-hearths^, forsooth, are no other
^ Or, as Saya«a takes it, ' he who is known (as well-conducted) and a repeater (reader) of the Veda.'
2 See IV, 3, 4, 19 seq.
^ Or, ' that (fire) will not suffer evil ' {artwi na labheta, Saya«a).
* There are altogether eight dhishwyas, two of which, viz. the Agnidhra and the Mar^aliya, are raised north and south of the back part of the cart-shed (havirdhana) respectively ; while the other six are raised inside the Sadas along the east side of it, viz. five of them north of the ' spine,' belonging (from south to north) to the Hotrz", Brahma«a/^/^arasi, Potr/, Nesh/r/, and AX'/^avaka re- spectively ; and one south of the spine, exactly south-east of the Udumbara post, for the Maitravaruwa (or Prajastn) priest. These six priests, together with the Agnidhra, are called the 'seven Hotm.' The Agnidhra and Mar^aliya have square sheds with four posts erected over them, open on the east side and on the side facing the cart-shed. The Agnidhra hearth is thrown up first, and the Mar- ^aliya last of all ; and the Maitravaru«a's immediately after that of the Hotrt. For the formulas by which they are consecrated, see Va^. S. V, 31, 32.
Ill KAiVDA, 6 ADHYAYA, 2 BRAHMAiVA, 5. I49
than its (the sacrifice's) congeners \ They have the
same marks, and those which have the same marks
are congeners ; and these, then, are those (corres-
ponding hmbs) of its trunk.
2. Now Soma was in heaven, and the gods were
here on earth. The gods desired, ' Would that
Soma might come to us ; we might sacrifice with
him, when come.' They produced those two ilki-
sions, Supar/^i and Kadru'^; Supar;n, forsooth, was
Vdik (speech)'', and Kadru was this (earth). They
caused discord between them.
3. They then disputed and said, 'Which of us
shall spy furthest, shall win the other^.' — ' So be it!'
Kadru then said, 'Espy thou!'
4. Suparm said, ' On yonder shore of this ocean
there stands a white horse at a post, that I see ;
doest thou also see it ?' — ' I verily do !' Then said
Kadru, ' Its tail was just now hanging down ; there,
now the wind tosses it, that I see.'
5. Now when Supanzi said, ' On yonder shore of
this ocean,' the ocean, forsooth, is the altar, she
thereby meant the altar ; ' there stands a white horse
at a post,' the white horse, forsooth, is Agni, and
the post means the sacrificial stake. And when
Kadru said, ' Its tail was just now hanging down ;
^ That is, the parts of the body corresponding to one another, as arms, loins, &c.
2 See III, 2, 4, I seq.; Oldenberg, Zeitsch. d. Deutsch. Morg. Ges. XXXVII, p. 67 seq. ; Weber, Ind. Stud. VIII, p. 31.
» In Taitt. S. VI, i, 6; Ka//;. XXIII, 10, suparm, 'the well- winged,' is identified with the sky.
* Lit. ' she shall win both of us,' i. e. each saying that the other would win herself.
1 50 ^ATAPATHA-BRAHMAiVA.
there, now the wind tosses it, that I see;' this is nothing else than the rope.
6. Supar;2t then said, ' Come, let us now fly
thither to know which of us is the winner.' Kadru
said, * Fly thou thither ; thou wilt tell us, which of
us is the winner.'
7. Supar;^i then flew thither ; and it was even
as Kadru had said. When she had returned,
she (Kadru) said to her, ' Hast thou won, or I ?'
— 'Thou!' she replied. Such is the story called
' Supar/^i-Kadrava^'
8. Then said Kadru, ' Verily I have won thine
own self; yonder is Soma in the heaven: fetch
him hither for the gods, and thereby redeem thy-
self from the gods^!' — 'So be it!' She brought
forth the metres ; and that Gayatrt fetched Soma
from heaven.
9. He was enclosed between two golden cups^;
sharp-edged they closed together at every twinkling
of the eye ; and these two, forsooth, were Consecra-
tion and Penance. Those Gandharva Soma-wardens
watched over him ; they are these hearths, these
fire-priests.
10. She tore off one of the two cups, and gave it
to the gods, — this was Consecration : therewith the
gods consecrated themselves.
^ 'And because these two there disputed, therefore the story called " Saupar«akadrava " is here told,' Ka/wa text. It is difficult to see how this statement came to be inserted here, unless it be be- cause of a division in the text, — this paragraph being the nineteen hundreth in the Madhyandina recension. This explanation would not, however, apply to the Ka«va text.
^ ' Therewith redeem thee from death,' Kawva rec.
^ Kusi }=kosi, ' pod ' (or case). Sayawa explains it by 'ayudha' (? weapon, or vessel, sheath).
Ill KAiVDA, 6 ADHYAYA, 2 BRAHMAiVA, I 5. I5I
1 1. She then tore off the second cup, and gave it
to the gods, — this was Penance : therewith the gods
underwent penance, to wit the Upasads, for the
Upasads are penance.
12. She took possession (a->^akhada)^ of Soma by
means of (a stick of) khadira wood (Acacia Catechu),
whence (the name) Khadira; and because she thereby
took possession of him, therefore the sacrificial stake
and the wooden sword (sphya) are of khadira wood.
She then carried him off while he was under the
charge of the A/^/^avaka, wherefore this A/^/^avaka
priest was excluded (from drinking Soma).
13. Indra and Agni preserved himx for the produc-
tion of creatures, whence the A/^/^avaka priest belongs
to Indra and Agni.
14. Therefore the consecrated keep charge of the
king (Soma), 'lest (the Gandharvas) should carry
him off.' Let him therefore guard him diligently,
for verily in whosesoever charge they carry him off,
he is excluded (from the Soma).
15. Wherefore the students guard their teacher,
his house, and cattle, lest he should be taken from
them. Let him therefore guard him (Soma) dili-
gently in that place, for verily in whosesoever
charge they carry him off, he is excluded therefrom.
By means of him Suparm redeemed herself from the
gods; wherefore they say, 'He who has sacrificed
shares in the world of bliss.'
^ Sayawa takes it in the sense of ' she swallowed (khad),' but I should feel inclined to refer it to the same verb 'khid' (? khad) as ' akhidat ' coming immediately after it. Could Pawini's Sutra VI, i, 52 refer to this passage? [Kaj. V., Benares edition Mhada; MS. Indian Office /^akhada.] The Ka«va text has the same reading: a/^akhada-akhidat.
152 5ATAPATHA-BRAHMAiVA.
16. Verily, even in being born, man, by his own
self, is born as a debt (owing) to death. And in that
he sacrifices, thereby he redeems himself from death,
even as Supan^i then redeemed herself from the
gods.
1 7. The gods worshipped with him. Those Gan-
dharva Soma-wardens came after him ; and having
come up they said, ' Do ye let us share in the sacri-
fice, exclude us not froni the sacrifice ; let there be
for us also a share in the sacrifice !'
1 8. They said, ' What will there be for us, then ?' —
' Even as in yonder world we have been his keepers,
so also will we be his keepers here on earth !'
19. The gods spake, 'So be it!' By saying, ' (Here
are) your Soma-wages . . .' he assigns to them the
price of the Soma\ They then said unto them,
' At the third pressing an offering of ghee shall fall
to your share, but not one of Soma, for the Soma-
draught has been taken from you, wherefore ye are
not worthy of a Soma-offering ! ' And accordingly,
when he pours ghee on the hearths by means of
fagots^, at the evening libation, that same offering
of ghee falls to their share, but not one of Soma.
20. * And what they will offer in the fire that
will satiate you ;' hence that which they offer in
the fire satiates them, ' And when they will move
about, holding the Soma over each^, that will
satiate you ; ' hence when they move about, holding
the Soma over each (hearth), that satiates them.
