16. He touches the offerings, with the text (Va^. S. II, 6), ' Safely they have sat down,' for safely indeed they sat down; — 'in the lap (yoni) of divine truth!' for the sacrifice is indeed the lap of divine truth, and in the sacrifice they sat down ; — ' Protect these, O Vish;ai ! protect the sacrifice ! protect the lord of sacrifice !' thereby he refers to the sacrificer ; ■ — 'Protect me, the leader of the sacrifice!' thereby he does not exclude himself either from the sacrifice. Vish;/u, assuredly, is the sacrifice : hence it is to the sacrifice that he makes all that over for protection. This is the reason why he says, ' Protect these, O Vish;2u !'
I KAiVDA, 3 ADHYAYA, 5 BRAHMAiVA, 3. 95
Fifth BRAHMAivA.
The Kindling of the Fire, the Pravara, and the Two Libations (Aghara) of Butter.
1. With the fire-wood {id h ma, hghting material)
the Adhvaryu Hghts (indh) the fire : hence it is
called fire-wood. And with the kindling verses
(samidheni) the Hotr^ kindles (sam-indh, to make
blaze): hence they are called kindling verses.
2. He (the Adhvaryu ^) says (to the Hotrz): ' Re-
cite to the fire as it is being kindled !' for it is to the
fire, when it is being kindled, that he recites.
3. Here now some people say, ' O Hotar, recite
to the fire as it is being kindled ! ' But let him
not say so ; fiDr that (priest) is not a Hotr/' as yet ;
only when he (the sacrificer) elects him ^, does he
^ The Adhvaryu, in the first place, prepares a seat for the Hotn', either west of the altar or north of its left hip ; and covers it with dry Kuja grass. [He then calls, ' O Hotr/, come!'] The Hotri, having rinsed his mouth north-east of the Ahavaniya, with his face to the east, turns round froni left to right and betakes himself to the sacrificial ground, always keeping his right foot before the left. He finally takes up his position so as to have the heel of the right foot in a line with the north hip of the altar, and the toes on the barhis; whilst he keeps the hands on a level with the heart, spread open and joined together, and looks towards the junction of the earth and sky. The Adhvaryu then takes a samidh (kindling-stick) and calls on him as above. The Hotrz' now mutters the formulas 'Adoration to the teacher! Adoration to the observer! Adoration to the promulgator !' &c. {Asv. -Srautas I, 2, i). The sacrificer then takes the wooden sword and says, ' Recite for me, as it were, stretching along (i. e. continuously)!' whereupon the Hotrz', having asked and received the permission of the Brahman, proceeds to recite the kindling verses. Katy. Ill, i, i seq. ; A^v. I, i, 4 seq.
2 This does not take place until the pravara or invitation addressed to Agni, the Hotn" of the gods, to assist in caUing the
96 ^ATAPATHA-BRAHMAiVA.
become a Hotrz. Let him therefore say, ' Recite to the fire as it is being kindled!'
4. He recites (verses) addressed to Agni : he
accordingly kindles it (the fire) with the aid of its
own deity. In the gayatri metre (are the verses
which) he recites ; for the gayatri is Agni's metre :
by means of its own metre he thereby kindles it. The
gayatri is vigour, the gayatri is the brahman^ (the
priestly order) : with vigour he thereby kindles it.
5. Eleven (verses) he recites ; for of eleven sylla-
bles consists the trish^ubh metre. The gayatri is
the brahman and the trish/ubh is the kshatra
(or military order) ^ With the aid of these two
energies he thus kindles it: for this reason he recites
eleven (verses).
6. Thrice he recites the first verse, and thrice the
last one ; for of threefold beginning are sacrifices,
and of threefold termination : therefore he recites
thrice the first and the last (verses).
7. Fifteen samidheni verses result (from this re-
petition of the first and last of the eleven verses). The
fifteen-versed chant ^ doubtless, is the thunderbolt,
gods to the sacrifice, cf. Sayawa and ^at. Br. I, 5, i, i seq. Accord- ing to some authorities, however, the choosing of the Hotri seems to take place at this particular time, or even before, at the time of the agnyanvadhana ; cf. Hillebrandt, p. 73.
^ The gayatri (though it is not the most frequent metre) is considered as the first, as it is the shortest, of Vedic metres. The hymns addressed to Agni are mostly in the gayatri metre.
^ The hymns celebrating the heroic deeds of Indra and his associates, the wind -gods, are almost entirely composed in the trish/ubh, the most frequent of Vedic metres.
' The pa?l/^ada^a-stoma, or form of recitation in fifteen verses at the Soma-sacrifice, is sacred to Indra (Nirukta 7, 10), the wielder of the thunderbolt.
I KANDA, 3 ADHYAVA, 5 BRAHMAJVA, lO. gj
and the thunderbolt means strength ; so that he
thereby converts the samidhenis into strength:
hence, if he should hate any one, he may crush him
with his great toes ^ at the time when those (verses)
are recited. By saying, 'I here crush so and so!'
he crushes him with that thunderbolt.
8. Fifteen nights indeed there are in a half-
moon ; and growing by half-moons the year passes:
hence he thereby obtains the nights.
g. Now in the fifteen gayatri verses there are
indeed three hundred and sixty syllables ^ ; and
three hundred and sixty days there are in a year :
hence he thereby obtains the days, he thereby obtains
the year.
lo. For an ish/i (which is performed in order to
obtain the fulfilment of a special wish)^ let him recite
seventeen samidheni verses; for in a low voice he
sacrifices to the deity to which he offers an ish/i.
^ Or, with his thumbs (angushZ/^abhyam). The Ka«va text has 'padyabhyam ahgush/Mbhyam ; ' but Katy. Ill, i, 7 has 'ah- gushZ/^abhyaw padyabhyaw va/ which would seem to leave a choice between the thumbs and the great toes ; the commentator, how- ever, takes va in a restrictive sense. The sacrificer is to press down the earth with his great toes (or thumbs) each time when a kindling verse is recited.
2 The gayatri verse consists of three times eight syllables, and 24 X 15 = 360. In the place of the last samidheni (called paridhaniya), however, the Vasish//zas have a trish/ubh stanza (4x11 syllables), so that the above computation of syllables does not hold good in their case. One might be inclined to infer from this that the trish/ubh was the more original, a gayatri being substituted later to yield the above symbolical number of syllables. Cf. Taitt. S. II, 5, 7 seq. ; Taitt. Br. Ill, 5, 3.
3 The kamyesh/is, and ish/is generally, are performed with cer- tain modifications, on the model of the new and full-moon sacrifice, of which they are therefore said to be vikrais or modifications.
98 5ATAPATHA-BRAHMAiVA.
Twelve months, namely, there are in a year, and
five seasons ' : this (makes) the seventeenfold Pra-
^apati. For verily Pra^apati is all : hence for
what wish he performs the ish/i, that wish he
thus accomplishes by means of the All. In a
low voice he sacrifices to the deity ; for what is
spoken in a low voice is undefined (indistinct),
and undefined is the 'All :' hence for whatever wish
he performs the ish/i, that wish he thus accom-
plishes by means of the All. This is the practice
in regard to an ish^i.
J I. Some people say : ' Let him recite twenty-one
samidheni verses also at the full and new-moon
sacrifice.' Twelve, doubtless, are the months of the
year, five the seasons, and three these worlds :
this (makes) twenty ; and the twenty-first is this
very (sun) that here shines : he is the resort, he the
stay ; thereby he (the sacrificer) obtains this resort,
this stay. He may therefore recite twenty-one.
1 2. Let him recite them only for one of established
prosperity (gatai-ri), who would not wish to become
either better or worse. For, what he for whom
they recite is like, like that he will either be or
worse 2, for whom, that knows this, they recite
^ In other passages, and in later times generally, six seasons, comprising two months each, are counted, but the transitional season between winter and spring, jijira, is not unTrequently, as in our passage, combined with the winter season (hemanta), or partially with that and the spring (vasanta). On the ideniification of Pra^apati with the year, cf. note on I, 2, 5, 12.
"^ The condition of one who is gata^ri cannot be improved, but only impaired. The construction of this paragraph is somewhat doubtful to me. It runs thus : Ta haita gatajrer evanubrOyad ya ikkh^n na jreyant syam na papiyan iti yadr/jaya haiva sate 'nvahus tadr/h va haiva bhavati papiyan va yasyaivaw; vidusha eta
I KANDA, 3 ADHYAYA, 5 BRAHMAiVA, 1 4. 99
those (twenty-one verses). This, however, is mere
speculation, for those (twenty-one verses) are not
recited ^
13. Thrice he should recite the first and thrice
the last (verse), without drawing breath ; for three
are these worlds, so that he thereby spreads (san-
tan) these worlds, gains these worlds. Also three
breaths there are in man : this recitation thereby
causes him (the sacrificer) to be extended (santata),
not cut short (by death).
14. He (the Hot?'/) should endeavour to recite
thus (uninterruptedly) as long as his strength lasts.
If, on the other hand, he were to take breath in
the middle (of the verse), it would be a slight on
this very (sacrifice)^: by reciting this (holy) com-
anvahu/i so esha mimawzsaiva na tv evaita anu/^yante. Saya«a seems to take it thus: — 'He should recite them only for a gataj-ri. A householder who desires neither an improvement nor a lowering of his position, is just such a one or whom the Hotr/s recite the samidhenis in the appointed (niyatena) way. Further, for whomsoever, that thus knows the irregular ? aniyata, not regulated) way of recitation, they recite those twenty-one samidhenis, he becomes either worse or better. What is set forth in the words from "A householder who desires neither an improvement" &c. is mere speculation ; the recitation is not to be performed in this way.' The corresponding paragraph of the Ka/zva recension is much briefer and clearer: — Tad etad gatamr eva kurvita na ha ^■reyan na papiyan bhavati yasyaivam anvahu/^ saisha mima/;/saiva na tv anu^yante, 'only a gatai'ri, however, should do this; for neither better nor worse becomes he for whom they recite thus. This is indeed speculation, but they (the twenty-one samidhenis) are not recited.'
^ In the Taitt. S. II, 5, 10, the number of verses (effected by the repetition) is given as varying, according to the special object in view, between fifteen and forty-eight.
^ ? Or, it would be an act of neglect on his, the sacrificer's, part : by (the Hotn) reciting without fetching breath, that act, that neglect would be avoided.
lOO 5'ATAPATHA-BRAHMAJVA.
position without taking breath, that sHght will be avoided.
15. If, however, he do not care to undertake this,
he may also recite one (verse) at a time without
drawing breath : he thereby spreads those worlds
one by one, gains those worlds one by one. The
reason why he takes breath, is that the gayatri is in-
deed breath ; and that by reciting a complete gayatri
verse, he accordingly bestows complete breathing
(on the sacrificer) : let him therefore recite one
(verse) at a time without breathing.
16. He recites them in a continuous, uninterrupted
way : thereby he makes the days and nights of the
year continuous, and in a continuous, uninterrupted
way revolve those days and nights of the year.
And in this way he gives no access to the spiteful
enemy; but access he would indeed give, if he were
to recite them discontinuously : he therefore recites
in a continuous, uninterrupted way.
Fourth Adhyaya. First BRAHMAivA.
I. He recites after uttering (the syllable) ' Hiii !'
Sacrifice, they say, is not (performed) without the
Saman; and neither is the Saman chanted without
' Hin ' having been uttered. By his uttering ' Hiii ! '
the peculiar nature (rilpam) of the word 'Hih' is
produced (in the sacrifice) ; and by the sacred syl-
lable (om) it assumes the nature of the Saman. By
uttering 'Om ! Om ^ !' this his entire sacrifice becomes
endowed with the Saman.