^ The two skins are fitted together at the inner sides, and stretched along the ground by means of wooden pins driven into the ground and passed through holes all round the edge of the skins ; the hairy sides of the latter remaining outside (above and below). At their hind parts they are tacked together by ' means of a thong passed through the holes and tied together in a loop.'
2 Yany eva babhriawiva hariwi. The Ka«va text reads, Yany eva madhye babhru«i va hariwi va, ' those in the centre (or between the black and white) which are either brown or yellow (grey).
^ According to Katy. VII, 3, 21 it would seem that the two hind feet, or one of them, should be doubled up (at the joint) and sewed under. According to the Sutras of the Black Ya^us, on the other hand, the right fore-foot is turned under.
* According to the Sutras of the Black Ya^us, he is to touch at
Ill KANDA, 2 ADHYAYA, I BRAHMAiVA, 9. 2^
where the white and black (hair) join, he mutters
(Vaf. S. IV, 9), 'Ye are the images of the J^z^
and Saman;' — an image doubtless is what is con-
formable M ' Ye are conformable to the ri'/^s and
samans' he thereby means to say.
6. 'I touch you.' Now, he who is consecrated
becomes an embryo, and enters into the metres :
hence he has his hands closed, since embryos have
their hands closed.
7. And when he says, ' I touch you,' he means
to say, ' I enter into you.' ' Do ye guard me up
to the goal of this sacrifice!' whereby he says,
' Do ye protect me until the completion of this
sacrifice !'
8. He then kneels down with his right knee (on
the skin), with the text, 'Thou art a refuge:
afford me refuge!' for the skin (/^arma) of the
black deer it is indeed among men, but among the
gods it is a refuge (i^arma) : therefore he says,
' Thou art a refuge : afford me refuge.' * Homage
be to thee: injure me not !^ Now he who raises
himself upon the sacrifice^ doubtless raises himself
to one that is his better ; for the black deer skin is
a (means of) sacrifice. Hereby, now, he propitiates
that sacrifice, and thus that sacrifice does not injure
him : for this reason he says, ' Homage be to thee :
injure me not !'
9. He must indeed sit down first on the hind part
(of the skin). Were he, on the other hand, to sit
down at once in the middle (of the skin), and were
the same time the white hair with his thumb and the black with his fore-finger. Say. on Taitt. S. I, 2, 2 (vol. i, p. 297).
^ Sieya.fnsa.fn va esha upadhirohati yo manushya/^ san ya^iiam upadhirohati. Ka«va recension.
28 i-ATAPATHA-BRAHMAiVA.
any one there to curse him, saying, ' He shall either
become demented or fall down headlong ! ' then that
would indeed come to pass. Let him therefore first
sit down on the hind part (of the skin).
10. He then girds himself with the zone. For
once upon a time when the Ahgiras were consecrated,
they were seized with weakness, for they had pre-
pared no other food but fast -milk. They then
perceived this (source of) strength (viz. the zone),
and this (source of) strength they put in (or round)
the middle of their body as a (means of attaining)
completion : and thereby they attained comple-
tion. And so does he now put that (source of)
strength in the middle of his body and thereby
attain completion.
11. It is made of hemp. Hempen it is in order
to be soft. Now when Pra^apati, having become an
embryo, sprung forth from that sacrifice, that which
was nearest to him, the amnion, became hempen
threads : hence they smell putrid. And that which
was the outer membrane (and placenta) became the
garment of the consecrated. Now the amnion lies
under the outer membrane, and hence that (zone) is
worn under the garment. And in like manner as
Pra^apati, having become an embryo, sprung forth
from that sacrifice, so does he become an embryo
and spring forth from that sacrifice.
12. It (the cord) is a triple one, because food is
threefold, food being cattle. (Moreover) the father
and mother (are two), and that which is born is a
third : hence it is a triple (cord).
13. It is intertwined with a shoot of reed (mu;1fa)
grass, for the sake of chasing away the evil spirits,
the reed being a thunderbolt. It is plaited after
Ill KAiV^DA, 2 ADHYAYA, I BRAHMAiVA, 1 8. 29
the manner of a braid of hair. For were it to be
twisted^ sunwise (from left to right) as any other
cords, it would be human ; and were it twisted con-
trary to the course of the sun, it would be sacred to
the Fathers : hence it is plaited after the manner of
a braid of hair.
14. He girds himself with it, with the text (Vaf. S.
IV, 10), 'Thou art the strength of the Angi-
ras,' — for the Angiras perceived this (source of)
strength ; — ' soft as wool, bestow thou strength
on me!' there is nothing obscure in this.
15. He then tucks up the end of his (nether) gar-
ment, with the text, 'Thou art Soma's tuck.'
For heretofore it was the tuck of him, the unconse-
crated ; but now that he is consecrated, it is that of
Soma 2 : therefore he says, ' Thou art Soma's tuck.'
16. He then wraps up (his head)^. For he who
is consecrated becomes an embryo ; and embryos are
enveloped both by the amnion and the outer mem-
brane : therefore he covers (his head).
17. He covers himself, with the text, 'Thou art
Vish;2u's refuge, the refuge of the sacrificer.'
He who is consecrated indeed becomes both Vish/m
and a sacrificer ; for when he is consecrated, he is
Vishnu ; and when he sacrifices, he is the sacrificer :
therefore he says, * Thou art Vish;^u's refuge, the
refuge of the sacrificer.'
18. Thereupon he ties a black deer's horn to the
^ Twisted and plaited is here expressed by the same term ' sr/sh/a.'
^ Literally, but now (it being that) of (him) the consecrated, (it is that) of Soma.
^ With his upper garment, or, according to others, with a turban. Katy.VII, 3, 28 schoU.
30 S-ATAPATHA-BRAHMAiVA.
end (of his garment'). Now the gods and the
Asuras, both of them sprung from Pra^apati, en-
tered upon their father Pra^apati's inheritance : the
eods came in for the Mind and the Asuras for
Speech. Thereby the gods came in for the sacri-
fice and Asuras for speech; the gods for yonder
(heaven) and the Asuras for this (earth).
19. The gods said to Ya^?^a (m., the sacrifice),
' That Va/C' (f., speech) is a woman: beckon her, and
she will certainly call thee to her.' Or it may be, he
himself thought, ' That Va/^ is a woman : I will
beckon her and she will certainly call me to her.'
He accordingly beckoned her. She, however, at
first disdained him from the distance: and hence
a woman,. when beckoned by a man, at first disdains
him from the distance. He said, ' She has disdained
me from the distance.'
20. They said, ' Do but beckon her, reverend sir,
and she will certainly call thee to her.' He beckoned
her ; but she only replied to him, as it were, by
shaking her head : and hence a woman, when
beckoned by a man, only replies to him, as it were,
by shaking her head. He said, 'She has only
replied to me by shaking her head.'
21. They said, 'Do but beckon her, reverend
sir, and she will certainly call thee to her.' He
beckoned her, and she called him to her ; and hence
a woman at last calls the man to her. He said,
* She has indeed called me.'
1 The Madhyandinas tied the horn to the unwoven end (thrum, daya) of the nether garment which was tucked through (par. 15) and then allowed to hang down in front. The Ka«vas, on the other hand, tied it to the hem of the upper garment (uttarasi/('e ! Ka«va text); of. Katy.VII, 3, 29 scholl.
Ill KAiVDA, 2 ADHYAYA, I BRAHMAiS^A, 23. 3 1
2 2. The gods reflected, ' That Va/§ being a woman,
we must take care lest she should allure him^ — Say
to her, "Come hither to me where I stand!" and
report to us her having come.' She then went up
to where he was standing. Hence a woman goes
to a man who stays in a well-trimmed (house). He
reported to them her having come, saying, ' She has
indeed come.'
23. The gods then cut her off from the Asuras ;
and having gained possession of her and enveloped
her completely in fire, they offered her up as a holo-
caust, it being an offering of the gods ^. And In
that they offered her with an anush/ubh verse,
thereby they made her their own ; and the Asuras,
being deprived of speech, were undone, crying, * He
'lavaA ! he 'lava/^^l
^ Yosha va iyam vag yad enaw na yuvita. The St. Petersburg Diet, (s, V. yu) takes it differently, ' That Vak is indeed a woman, since she does not wish to draw him towards herself (i.e. since she does not want him to come near her).' Sayawa, on the other hand, explains it elliptically, 'Since she has not joined him (no confidence can be placed in her).' The Ka«va text reads : Ta u ha deva bibhaya»2 /^akrur yosha va iyam iti yad va enam na yuviteti. Perhaps in our passage also we should read ' yuvita ' (as proposed by Delbriick, Syntact. Forschungen III, p. 79), and translate, 'Verily that Va^ is a woman : (it is to be feared) that she will [or, it is to be hoped that she will not] allure him [viz. so that Yagiia. also would fall to the share of the Asuras] ; ' ' Dass sic ihn nur nicht an sich fesselt ! ' For similar elliptic constructions with yad and the op- tative, see paragraphs 26 and 27; and II, 2, 4, 3 ['Dass er mich nur nicht auffrisst !'] ; IV, 3, 5, 3 (' Dass uns nur die Rakshas nichts zu Leide thun!') ; IV, 6, 9, i. One would expect an ' iti' here.
^ And therefore requiring no priests' portion &c. to be taken from it.
* According to Saya?/a, ' He 'lavo ' stands for ' He 'rayo (i. e. ho, the spiteful (enemies))!' which the Asuras were unable to pronounce correctly. The Kawva text, however, reads, te hattava-^o 'sura hailo haila ity etaw ha \akam vadanta/2 parababhuvuA ; (? i. e. He
32 SATAPATHA-BRAHMAiVA.
24. Such was the unintelHgible speech which they
then uttered, — and he (who speaks thus) is a MleZV/a
(barbarian). Hence let no Brahman speak barba-
rous language, since such is the speech of the
Asuras. Thus alone he deprives his spiteful ene-
mies of speech ; and whosoever knows this, his
enemies, being deprived of speech, are undone.
25. That Ya^^^a (sacrifice) lusted after Va-^
(speech^), thinking, 'May I pair with her!' He
united with her.
26. Indra then thought within himself, ' Surely
a great monster will spring from this union of Ya^;7a
and Va/^ : [I must take care] lest it should get the
better of me.' Indra himself then became an em-
bryo and entered into that union.
27. Now when he was born after a year's time,
he thought within himself, 'Verily of great vigour is
this womb which has contained me : [I must take
care] that no great monster shall be born from it
after me, lest it should get the better of me !'
28. Having seized and pressed it tightly, he tore
it off and put it on the head of Ya^fla (sacrifice 2); —
for the black (antelope) is the sacrifice : the black
deer skin is the same as that sacrifice, and the black
deer's horn is the same as that womb. And because
it was by pressing it tightly together that Indra tore
out (the womb), therefore it (the horn) is bound
tightly (to the end of the garment); and as Indra,
ila, ' ho, speech.') A third version of this passage seems to be referred to in the Mahabhashya (Kielh.), p. 2.
^ Compare the corresponding legend about Yagna. and Dakshi«a (priests' fee), Taitt. S. VI, i, 3, 6.
^ ' Ya^ilasya jirshan ; ' one would expect ' krzsh«a(sara)sya s\v- shan.' The Taitt. S. reads ' tarn m;7geshu ny adadhat.'
Ill KAiVZ>A, 2 ADHYAYA, I BRAHMAiVA, 3 1. 33
having become an embryo, sprang from that union,
so is he (the sacrificer), after becoming an embryo,
born from that union (of the skin and the horn).
29. He ties it (to the end of the garment) with
the open part upwards, for it is in this way that the
womb bears the embryo. He then touches with it
his forehead close over the right eyebrow, with the
text, 'Thou art Indra's womb,' — for it is indeed
Indra's womb, since in entering it he enters thereby \
and in being born he is born therefrom: therefore
he says, ' Thou art Indra's womb.'
30. Thereupon he draws (with the horn) the
('easterly') line, with the text, 'Make the crops
full-eared!' Thereby he produces the sacrifice;
for when there is a good year, then there is abun-
dant (material) for sacrifice ; but when there is a bad
year, then there is not even enough for himself:
hence he thereby produces the sacrifice.
31. And let not the consecrated henceforth scratch
himself either with a chip of wood or with his nail.
For he who is consecrated becomes an embryo ; and
were any one to scratch an embryo either with a chip
of wood or his nail, thereby expelling it, it would
die I Thereafter the consecrated would be liable to
be affected with the itch ; and — offspring (retas)
coming after the consecrated — that offspring would
then also be liable to be born with the itch. Now his
