12. He then makes (the Sacrificer) say the text (Va^. S. VI, ii), 'O thou prosperous! upon
^ For the two omentum-spits, see note on III, 8, 2, 16.
2 The Maitravaru«a's additional cue or order (upapraisha) is ' Agni has been victorious ; he has won wealth !' On the Hotn's recitation — the so-called Adhrigu litany — commencing 'Ye divine quieters (slaughterers), commence, as well as ye that are human!' and consisting of formulas usually pronounced by the Adhvaryu (and hence perhaps going back to a time when the Hotrz' had to perform all but the menial parts of the sacrificial service), see Ait. Br. II, 6-7 ; Roth, Yaska XXXVII seq.
Ill KAiVZ)A, 8 ADHYAYA, I BRAHMAiVA, 1 5. 1 89
the Sacrificer,' — the prosperous one, forsooth, is
Speech, it is because she speaks much, that Speech
is prosperous, — 'bestow thou what is agreeable
unto him! Approach thou,' — thereby he means
to say, ' Approach thou an existence free from afflic-
tion,'— 'from the wide air, along with the
divine wind;' for the Rakshas moves about the
air rootless and unfettered on both sides, even as
man here moves about the air rootless and unfet-
tered on both sides : he means to say, ' Meeting
together with the wind, protect thou this one from
the wide air,' when he says 'from the wide air,
along with the divine wind.'
13. 'Offer thou with the self of this obla-
tion!' whereby he means to say to Speech, ' Offer
thou with the soul of this unblemished oblation;' —
'Unite thou with its body!' whereby he means
to say to Speech, ' Unite thou with the body of this
unblemished oblation!'
14. In front ^ of the place where they cut it up,
he throws down a stalk of grass, with, 'O great
one, lead the lord of sacrifice unto greater
sacrifice!' he thus strews barhis (an underlayer of
sacrificial grass) for it, that no sacrificial food may
be spilt ; whatever may now be spilt of it when it is
cut up, that settles thereon and thus is not lost.
1 5. They then step back (to the altar) and sit down
turning towards the Ahavaniya, ' lest they should be
eye-witnesses to its being quieted (strangled).' They
do not slay it on the frontal bone ^, for that is human
^ According to Katy. VI, 5, 15, the stalk is put down behind the ^Samitra (i. e. the fire at the slaughtering-place) with the top towards the east.
^ Lit. ' by means of the frontal bone.' Sayawa explains it by ' in
IQO .SATAPATHA-BRAHMAiVrA.
manner ; nor behind the ear, for that is after the
manner of the Fathers. They either choke it by
merely keeping its mouth closed, or they make a
noose. Therefore he says not, 'Slay! kill!' for
that is human manner, but, ' Quiet it ! It has passed
away!' for that is after the manner of the gods.
For when he says, ' It has passed away,' then this
one (the Sacrlficer) passes away to the gods : there-
fore he says, * It has passed away.'
1 6. When they hold it down, then, before the
strangling, he offers with 'Hail, to the gods!'
And when (the butcher) says, ' Quieted is the
victim,' he offers with, 'To the gods, Hail!'
Thus some of the gods are preceded by ' Hail,'
and others followed by 'Hail;' he thereby grati-
fies them, and thus gratified both kinds of gods
convey him to the heavenly world. These are the
so-called 'paripai"avya^ ' oblations ; he may offer them
if he choose ; or, if he choose, he need not mind
them.
Second BRAHMAivA,
1. When he (the slaughterer) announces, 'The
victim has been quieted!' the Adhvaryu says,
' Nesh^ar, lead up the lady!' The Nesh^ri leads
up the (sacrificer's) wife bearing a vessel of water
for washing the feet.
2. He makes her say (Vaf. S. VI, 12), ' Homage
be to thee, O wide-stretched!' — the wide-
stretched one, forsooth, is the sacrifice ; for they
stretch the sacrifice (over the sacrificial ground) :
seizing it by the horn;' Professor Weber, Ind. Stud. IX, p. 222, 'by striking it with a horn.' The Ka«va text reads, tasya na kia/ena praghnanti manusha/w ha kuryad yad asya kfi/ena prahanyu/^. ^ That is, surrounding, relating to, the victim.
Ill KAiVZiA, 8 ADHYAYA, 2 BRAHMAiVA, 6. IQI
hence the wide-stretched one is the sacrifice. But
that wife, forsooth, is the hind-part of the sacrifice,
and he wants her, thus coming forward, to propitiate
the sacrifice. Thereby, then, she makes amends to
that sacrifice, and thus that sacrifice does not injure
her : therefore she says, ' Homage be to thee, O wide-
stretched ! '
3. 'Advance, unresisted!' whereby she means
to say, 'Advance on (a way) free from injury!'
'Unto the rivers of ghee, along the paths of
sacred truth!' whereby she means to say, 'Unto
good.' [Va^. S. VI, 13], ' Ye divine, pure waters,
carry ye (the sacrifice) to the gods, well-pre-
pared ! May we be well-prepared preparers!'
Thereby she purifies the water.
4. Thereupon the wife cleanses with the water
the (openings of the) vital airs of the victim. The
reason why she thus cleanses with water the (open-
ings of the) vital airs is this : the food of the gods
is living, is immortal (ambrosia) for the immortals ;
but in quieting and cutting up that victim they kill
it. Now the vital airs are water ; hence she now
puts into it those vital airs, and thus that food of
the gods becomes truly living, becomes immortal
for the immortals.
5. Then as to why it is the wife that cleanses. The
wife is a woman, and from woman progeny is born
here on earth ; thus he causes that (creature) to be
born from that woman ; and therefore the wife
cleanses (the victim).
6. With(Va^. S. VI, 14)' Thy speech I cleanse'
she wipes the mouth ; with 'Thy breath I cleanse,'
the nostrils ; with 'Thine eye I cleanse,' the eyes;
with 'Thine organ of hearing I cleanse,' the
192 SATAPATHA-BRAHMAiVA.
ears; with 'Thy navel I cleanse,' that mysterious
(opening of a) vital air; or with ' Thy sexual organ
I cleanse ;' with ' Thy hind-part I cleanse,' that
(opening of a) vital air behind. Thus she puts the
vital airs into it, revives it. Thereupon, holding the
legs together, (she wipes them) with 'Thy feet
I cleanse ;' for it is on its feet that it stands firmly;
she thus makes it stand (on its feet) for the sake of
a firm position.
7. With one half or the whole of the water that
is left, he (the Adhvaryu) and the Sacrificer^ then
sprinkle it, beginning from the head ; thereby they
put those vital airs into it, and revive it (beginning)
from that part.
8. Thus, wherever they wound it^, wherever
they hurt it — water being a means of soothing —
there they soothe it by that means of soothing,
water, there they heal it with water.
9. They sprinkle with (Va^. S. VI, 15), 'May
thy mind grow full ! may thy speech grow full !
may thy breath grow full ! may thine eye grow
full! may thine ear grow full!' Thus they put
the vital airs into it and revive it: 'Whatever is
sore, whatever hurt in thee, may that fill up
and become firm.'
10. Thus, wherever they wound it, wherever they
hurt it — water being a means of soothing — they
soothe it by that means of soothing, water, there
^ Or, perhaps, she and the sacrificer, as Sayawa takes it (ya^a- mana>^ patni ka). Katy. VI, 6, 4 leaves it doubtful ; but the com- mentator interprets the rule as referring to the Adhvaryu and Sacri- ficer, in accordance with the reading of the Kawva text — ' atha ya^ pariiish/a apo bhavanti tabhir adhvaryuj -^a ya^amanaj ^anu- shifi^ata/;.'
^ Asthapayanti = saw^wapayanti, Sayawa.
Ill KANDA, 8 ADHYAYA, 2 BRAHMAiVA, I 5. I93
they heal it with water: ' May that become pure
in thee!' thereby they render it sacrificially pure.
With 'Auspicious be the days!' they pour out
(the remaining water) behind the victim.
1 1. Thus, wherever they wound it, wherever they
hurt it, — lest thereafter the days and nights should
be inauspicious ^ — they pour out (the water) behind
the victim with, * Auspicious be the days.'
12. Thereupon they turn the victim over so as
to. lie on its back. He (the Adhvaryu) puts the
(other) stalk of grass thereon, with, *0 plant, pro-
tect!' for the knife is a thunderbolt, and thus that
thunderbolt, the knife, does not injure it (the victim).
He then applies the edge of the knife to it (and
cuts through it) with, 'Injure it not, O blade!'
for the knife is a thunderbolt, and thus that thunder-
bolt, the knife, does not injure it.
13. He applies that approved edge of his, for
that has been made sacrificially pure by a text 2.
That which is the top part of the stalk he puts in
his left hand, and that which is the bottom part
he takes with his riofht hand.
14. And where he skins (the victim), and whence
the blood spirts out, there he smears it (the bottom
part with blood) on both ends with (Va^, S. VI, 16),
' Thou art the Rakshas' share !' for that blood is
indeed the Rakshas' share.
15. Having thrown it away (on the utkara), he
treads on it with, 'Herewith I tread down the
Rakshas! herewith I drive away the Rak-
shas! herewith I consign the Rakshas to the
^ Ned idam anv ahoratrawi sokdn iti, Kawva recension. 2 See III, 8, I, 5.
194 SATAPATHA-BRAHMAA^A.
nethermost darkness!' Thus it is by means of
the sacrifice that he drives away the evil spirits,
the Rakshas. And as to its being rootless and
severed on both sides, — rootless, forsooth, and
severed on both sides, the Rakshas moves about
in the air, even as man here moves about in
the air rootless and severed on both sides : there-
fore it (the grass-end) is rootless and severed on
both sides.
1 6. Thereupon they- pull out the omentum,
and envelop the two spits ^ therein with, 'May
ye envelop heaven and earth with ghee!'
wherebv he endows those two, heaven and earth,
with strength and sap, and puts strength and sap
into them ; and upon those two, thus filled with
sap and affording the means of subsistence, these
creatures subsist.
17. The two omentum-spits are made of karsh-
marya wood. For when the gods in the beginning
seized (slew) a victim, then, as it was drawn upwards,
its sacrificial essence ^ flowed downwards, and from
it sprang a tree ; and because it flowed down from
the (victim) as it was drawn (karsh) upwards, there-
fore (it became) a karshmarya tree^ With that
^ The two vapa^rapawis (omentum-roasters) consist of sticks of karshmarya wood (GmeHna Arborea), one of them being quite straight, while the other is bifurcate at the top, thus resembhng a prop.
2 Or, its flesh-juice, medha. The Ka«va text reads throughout medhas.
^ The Kawva text has the preferable reading,— Sa yat kr/shya- mawat samabhavat tasmat karshmaryo nama, 'and because it sprang from that drawn-up (victim), therefore it is called kar- shmarya.'
Ill KANDA, 8 ADHYAYA, 2 BRAHMAiVA, 20. 1 95
same sacrificial essence he now perfects it, and
makes it whole ; therefore the two omentum-spits
are of karshmarya wood.
18. He cuts it (the omentum) off on all sides
(from the belly) and heats it at the cooking-fire :
thus it becomes cooked for him already at this
(fire)\ The Agnidh again takes a firebrand (from
the .Samltra, and walks in front). They go behind
the pit (i;atvala) and proceed to the Ahavaniya.
The Adhvaryu throws that (top part of the) grass-
stalk into the Ahavaniya with, 'O Vayu, graci-
ously accept the drops!' for this is the kindler
(samidh) of the drops ^.
19. Thereupon he heats the omentum while stand-
ing on the north side ; for he is about to pass by
the fire and to roast (the omentum) after walking
round to the south side. Hereby then he pro-
pitiates it, and thus that fire does not injure him
while passing by ; this is why he heats the omen-
tum while standing on the north side.
20. They take it along between the sacrificial
stake and the fire. The reason why they do not
take it across the middle (of the altar) ^, where they
take other sacrificial dishes, is lest they should bring
the sacrifice in the middle into contact with the
uncooked (omentum). And why they do not take
it there outside (the altar) along the front of the
sacrificial stake, is that they would thereby put it
outside the sacrifice ; therefore they take it along
