1 See I, I, 2, 17 seq., especially p. 17, note 2.
44 S-ATAPATHA-BRAHMAiVA.
derived (by the plants) from the rain, for that he says this.
7. Now he (the Adhvaryu) puts on (adhi-vrzV)
the cake, with the text (Va^. S. I, 22): * Heat (or a
hot vessel, gharma) art thou!' whereby he makes it
(a means of) sacrifice, and puts it on in the same
way as if he were putting the (pravargya) cauldron
(gharma)^ on, — 'Life-sustaining (vi^vayus)!' he
adds, whereby he obtains life (for the sacrificer).
8. He spreads it (over the respective potsherds),
with the text (Va^. S. I, 22): 'Spread widely, thou
wide-spreading one ! ' whereby he causes it to spread.
He adds : ' May thy Lord of Sacrifice spread widely
(prosper) ! ' Lord of Sacrifice, namely, is the sacri-
ficer : hence it is for the sacrificer that he thereby
prays for blessing.
9. Let him not make it too broad ; for he would
make it a human (profane, common cake), if he were
to make it (too) broad. Unlucky for (or, excluded
from) the sacrifice indeed is that one, to wit, the
common (cake). ' That I may not do anything that
' Gharma, literally 'heat,' is also the technical term for a kind of cauldron (also called mahavira) used at the Pravargya cere- mony, a preparatory rite of the Soma-sacrifice : the empty cauldron is there put on the fire, and wlien thoroughly heated (whence its name), fresh milk is poured into it. The technical phrase for putting on the cauldron is prsi-vrig, from which pravargya is derived ; and the same verb, though with a different preposition (viz. zdhi-vrig), being technically used for the putting on of the sacrificial cake, this verbal coincidence has probably suggested this connection of the two ceremonies, there being a constant tendency to establish some kind of relation between ordinary offerings and the Soma-sacrifice, as the most solemn one; cf. Ill, 4, 4, i; X, 2, 5, 3 seq. ; Ait. Br. I, 18 seq. Previously to the spreading of the cake, the cinders are swept oflf from the potsherds with the grass-brush (veda), Hilleb. p. 41, note 7.
I Kanda, 2 Adhyaya, 2 Brahmaa^a, 1 3. 45
is unlucky at the sacrifice,' thus (he thinks, and) for that reason he should not make it too broad.
10. And some now say: ' He should make it of
the size of a horse's hoof!' But who knows how
large is a horse's hoof? Let him make it of such
^ size as in his own mind he does not think would
be too broad.
11. He then touches it over with water, either
once or three times : for whatever in this (rice-
offering) they either injure or tear asunder in the
threshing or grinding of it, that — water being (a means
of) expiation (or purification) — he thereby expiates
with water, that is, with (the means of) expiation;
that he thereby makes good : for this reason he
touches it over with water.
12. He touches it over, with the text (Vd^. S. I,
22) : ' May the fire not injure thy skin ! ' for on the
fire he is now going to heat it : ' May that (fire) not
injure thy skin!' this is what he thereby says.
13. He now carries fire round it ^ By this he encloses it with an unbroken fence, lest the evil
^ The paryagnikarawam consists in performing prada- kshiwa (see p. 37, note i) on an object whilst holding a fire-brand or burning coal ; or (according to the Paddhati) in moving one's hand, which holds the burning coal, round the oblation, from left to right. According to Katy. II, 5, 22, the Adhvaryu does so on the present occasion, whilst muttering the formula, ' Removed is the Rakshas ! removed are the enemies!' (Taitt. S. I, i, 8, i.) This practice of paryagnikaraz/am may be compared with the carrying of fire round houses, fields, boats, &c., on the last night of the year, a custom which, according to Mr. A. INIitchell (The Past in the Present, p. 145), still prevails in some parts of Scot- land, and which he thinks is probably a survival of some form of fire-worship, and intended to secure fertility and general prosperity. The obvious meaning of the ceremony would seem to be the warding off of the dark and mischievous powers of nature.
46 5ATAPATHA-BRAHMAi\7A.
spirits, the Rakshas, should seize upon it ; for Agni
(fire) is the repeller of the Rakshas : this is the
reason why he carries fire round it.
14. He bakes 1 it, with the text (Va^. S. I, 22):
* Let the divine (or God) Savitr/ bake thee ! ' for it
is not a man that bakes it, but a god it is : therefore
it is the God Savitrz that bakes it-. He adds : ' In
the highest heaven !' He means to say ' among the
gods,' when he says ' in the highest heaven.' He
touches it : 'I will ascertain whether it is done I '
thus (he thinks, and) for that reason he touches it.
15. He touches it, with the text (Va^. S. I, 23):
' Be not afraid ! shrink not ! ' He thereby says : * Do
not thou be afraid, do not thou shrink, because I, a
man, touch thee that art not human ! '
16. When it is done, he covers it over (with hot
ashes) : ' Lest the evil spirits, the Rakshas, should
espy it,' thus (he thinks) ; and ' Lest it should lie,
as it were, naked and despoiled ! ' thus also (he
thinks) : — that is the reason why he covers it over.
17. He covers it over, with the text (Va^. S. I.
23): 'May the sacrifice not be liable to languish,
nor the sacrificer's race liable to languish ! ' ' That
the sacrifice or the sacrificer may not languish after
this, when I cover this over,' thus (he thinks, and)
for this reason he covers it over in this manner
(i. e. with the above text).
^ On the upper side it is baked by burning straw put on or held over it, whereby it takes a crust (tva/-, 'skin'). Schol. on Katy.
^ With the name of no other God the epithet deva (' shining,' 'God') is so frequently used as with that of Savit//: hence, according to the author's reasoning, it is he that must be intended, whenever a god not otherwise specified is alluded to.
I KANDA, 2 ADHYAYA, 3 BRAHMAiVA, 2. 47
18. He then pours out for the Aptya deities the
water with which the dish has been rinsed and
that in which he has washed his finders \ The
reason why he pours it out for the Aptyas (is this) :
Third Brahmajva. The Preparation of the Altar.
1. Fourfold, namely, was Agni (fire) at first. Now
that Agni whom they at first chose for the office
of Hotri priest passed away. He also whom they
chose the second time passed away. He also whom
they chose the third time passed away ^. There-
upon the one who still constitutes the fire in our own
time, concealed himself from fear. He entered into
the waters. Him the gods discovered and brought
forcibly away from the waters. He spat upon the
waters, saying, 'Bespitten are ye who are an unsafe
place of refuge, from whom they take me away
against my will ! ' Thence sprung the Aptya deities,
Trita, Dvita, and Ekata.
2. They roamed about with Indra, even as now-
adays a Brahman follows in the train of a king.
When he slew Vi^-varupa, the three-headed son of
T vash/re, they also knew of his going to be killed ;
and straightway Trita slew him. Indra, assuredly,
was free from that (sin), for he is a god ^.
^ The washing of the fingers and the dish, and has taken place after the putting on and touching over of the cake, and before the paryagnikara;/am is performed.
^ In I, 3, 3, 13-16, the three former Agnis (or the three brothers of Agni, ace. to Mahidh., Va^. S. II, 2) are said to have fled from fear of the thunderboh, in the shape of the vasha/ formula.
^ Cf. I, 6, 3, I seq. In the Taitt. Sa;«h. II, 5, i, i, Vijvariipa, the Tvash/ra, is said to have been a sister's son of the Asuras, and
48 .SATAPATIIA-BRAHMAiVA.
3. And the people thereupon said : ' Let those be
guilty of the sin who knew about his going to be
killed ! ' ' How ? ' they asked. ' The sacrifice shall
wipe it off upon (shall transfer it to) them !' they said.
Hence the sacrifice thereby wipes off upon them
(the guilt or impurity incurred in the preparation of
the offering), when they pour out for them the water
with which the dish has been rinsed, and that in
which he (the Adhvaryu) has washed his fingers.
4. And the Aptyas then said : ' Let us make this
pass on beyond us ! ' ' On whom ? ' they asked.
' On him who shall make an offering without a
dakshi;«a (gift to the officiating priests)!' they said.
Hence one must not make an offering without a da-
kshi?^a; for the sacrifice wipes (the guilt) off upon
the Aptyas, and the Aptyas wipe it off upon him
who makes an offering without a dakshi;^a.
5. Thereupon the gods ordained this to be the
house-priest (purohita) to the gods, and to have been killed by Indra, because he had secretly contrived to let the oblations go to the Asuras, instead of to the gods. Thus by killing him, Indra (or Trita, according to our version of the legend) became guilty of that most hideous crime, the brahmahatya, or killing of a Brahma«a. Trita, the Aptya (i.e. probably 'sprung from, or belonging to the ap, or waters of the atmosphere'), seems to have been a prominent figure of the early Indo- Iranian mythology, the prototype, in many respects, of Indra, the favourite god of the Vedic hymns. The notion of wishing evil and misfortune away to Trita, or far, far away, is a familiar one to the Vedic bards. The name Traitana also occurs once in Rig-veda (I, 158, 5), though in a rather dark passage. On the connection between Trita (? Traitana) and the Iranian Thraetona (Feridiin), son of Athvya, see E. Burnouf, Journ. Asiat. V, 120; R. Roth, Zeitschr. d. Deutsch. Morg. Ges. II, p. 216 seq. Dvita (the second) and Ekata are no doubt later abstractions suggested by the etymology of the name Trita (the third), although the former, Dvita, occurs already in the Vedic hymns.
I KANDA, 2 ADHYAYA, 3 BRAHMAiVA, 5. 49
dakshi;2a at the new- and full-moon sacrifices, to
wit, the Anvaharya mess of rice^, 'lest the obla-
tion should be without a dakshi/za.' That (rinsing
water) he pours out (for each Aptya) separately : thus
he avoids a quarrel among them. He makes it hot
(previously)^ : thus it becomes boiled (drinkable) for
them. He pours it out with the formulas, * For
Trita thee !' ' For Dvita thee !' ' For Ekata thee !'
— Now it is as an animal sacrifice that this sacri-
ficial cake is offered^.
^ The Anvaharya consists of boiled rice prepared from the rice-grains that remain after the sacrificial cakes have been pre- pared. It is put on the Dakshiwa fire by the Adhvaryu for cooking after covering over the cakes and pouring out the water. Katy. II, 5, 27. Sayawa explains the term as 'that which takes away (anva-hn) from the sacrificer the guilt incurred by mistakes during the sacrifice;' but the St. Petersburg Dictionary offers the more probable explanation of it as ' that which serves to supple- ment (anva-hr/) the sacrifice.'
^ According to Sayawa ' he makes the poured-out water hot with a coal.' Katyayana (II, 5, 26) and his commentators, on the other hand, supply the following particulars : ' Having heated (with straw lighted in the Garhapatya) the water which has been used for washing the dish and hands, he pours it out for the Aptyas (from east to west into three lines drawn with the wooden sword from west to east, north of the sacrificial ground) in such a manner that it does not flow together, with the formulas, " For Trita thee !" &c., respectively.'