B. The Preparation of the Offerings. After the morning's performance of the Agnihotra and the subsequent rising of the sun, the sacrificer chooses his Brahman, or superintending priest. [In the first place he gets six seats ready, covered with sacrificial grass : two of these, to be used by the Brahman and sacrificer during the ceremony of election, are placed somewhere on the north side of the sacrificial ground ; another south of the Ahavaniya fire, to serve for the Brahman's permanent seat (brahmasadanam), and west of the latter (placed so as to be quite close to the altar to be constructed hereafter, cf. Katy. St. I, 8, 28), the sacrificer's permanent seat ; finally a seat north of each of the two fires, the Garhapatya and the Ahavaniya, to be used by the Adhvaryu on certain occasions. The sacrificer and future Brahman then having seated themselves on the two first-mentioned seats on the north side, the former with his face turned northward, and the latter looking toward east; the sacrificer, holding the wooden sword (sphya) in his left hand, touches the right knee of the Brahman with his right hand, in which he holds barley-corns and] chooses him for his Brahman with the formula : [' Thou, of such and such a family, N. N. vS'arman ! we are about to perform the Full-moon sacrifice,'] ' O Lord of the earth ! Lord of the world ! Lord of the great universe ! we choose thee for our Brahman ! ' The chosen one then mutters (cf V%. S. p. 57) : ' I am the lord of the earth, I lord of the world, I lord of the great universe (maha- bhuta)! earth! ether! heaven! O God Savitn", thee they choose for their Brahman, their lord of prayer (Br/haspati) !' &c., ' B/7- haspati is Brahman to the gods, I to the men 1' He (or, according
^ A shake-down of grass (astarawam, ? a blanket) is not for- bidden. Paddh. on Katy. Sr. II, i.
I Kanda, I Adhyaya, I Brahmajva, 12. 7
to some, the sacrificer) further says, ' O Lord of speech, protect the sacrifice !' after which he betakes himself to the Brahman's seat (south of the Ahavaniya), and whilst [standing north of it, with his face turned eastward and] looking on it, he mutters : ' Avaunt ! unholy one (daidhishavya, lit. son of a re-married woman)! take thee away from here and seat thee on another's seat who is less exalted (pakatara) than we !' He takes one blade of grass from the seat and flings it towards south-west (the region of the Rakshas or evil spirits) with the formula : ' Expelled is sin with him whom we detest!' and then sits down with the formula: 'Here I sit on the seat of Brzliaspati, at the command of the divine Savit;/! This I proclaim to the fire, this to the wind, this to the earth 1 ' Here he remains seated, with his face towards the Ahavaniya fire, to watch the progress of the ceremony and give directions, whenever he is appealed to. When the full or new- moon sacrifice is performed for the first time, it should be pre- ceded by the Anvarambhawiya offering, performed in much the same way as the Paurwamasi, except that the oblations themselves consist of a rice cake on eleven potsherds for Agni and Vishwu, a potful of boiled (rice) grains (>^aru) for Sarasvati; and a rice cake on twelve potsherds for Sarasvat ; the priest's fee on this occasion consisting of a cow four years old, or a pair of cattle, instead of the Anvaharya mess. Katy. Sr. IV, 5, 22-23.
12. By way of his first act on the following
morning he (the Adhvaryu priest) betakes him-
self to the water, and brings water forward ^ : for
^ He, in the first place, pours water into a jug [usually made of varawa wood (Cratasva Roxburghii), four-cornered, about a span or twelve fingers' breadths deep and four fingers' breadths square, and furnished with a handle], puts it down north of the Garhapatya fire, and touches it with the formula : ' I, the existent, will operate with thee(?tva karishyami), Oexistent one!' He then addresses himself to the Brahman : ' O Brahman ! shall I bring the water forward ? ' and to the patron or sacrificer : ' Sacrificer, restrain thy speech ! ' The Brahman, — after muttering the mantra (as he does, with certain modifications, on similar occasions when his permission is asked in the course of the performance) : ' Lead on the sacrifice ! gladden the deities ! May the sacrificer be on the vault of heaven ! Where the world of the seven pious /f/shis is. thither do thou lead this sacrifice and sacrificer !' — replies aloud : ' Hail (om) ! bring forward!'
8 S-ATAPATHA-BRAHMATS^A.
water is (one of the means of) sacrifice. Hence by
this his first act he approaches (engages in) the
sacrifice ; and by bringing (water) forward, he spreads
out (prepares) the sacrifice.
IT,. He brings it forward with those mysterious
words (Va^. S. I, 6): 'Who (or Pra^apati) joins (or
yokes) thee (to this fire) V He joins thee. For what
(or, for Pra^cLpati) does he join thee ? For that (or
him) he joins thee!' For Pra^apati is undefined^
(mysterious); Pra^apati is the sacrifice: hence
he thereby yokes (gets ready for the performance)
Pra^apati, this sacrifice.
14. The reason why he brings forward water is,
that all this (universe) is pervaded by water ^; hence
by this his first act he pervades (or gains) all this
(universe).
15. And whatever here in this (sacrifice) the
Hotr/, or the Adhvaryu, or the Brahman, or
the Agnidhra, or the sacrificer himself, does not
succeed in accomplishing, all that is thereby ob-
tained (or made good).
16. Another reason why he brings forward water
is this : whilst the gods were engaged in performing
sacrifice, the Asuras and Rakshas forbade (raksh)
' ' Ka (i. e. who? or Pra^apati) joins thee (i. e. places thee, O water, by the side of the Ahavaniya fire)?(!) . . . Kasmai (i.e. for what purpose? or, for whom? or, for Pra^^apati) does he join thee ? (!) ' Mahidh. Dark is the meaning of these words because of the ambiguity of ka, the interrogative pronoun, which speculative theology also takes for a mystic name of Pra^apati. Cf. XI, 5, 4, i seq. ; Max Miiller, History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, p. 433.
'^ Cf. also I, 6, I, 20, where Sayawa says that Pra^apati is ani- rukta, because he represents all deities.
^ A play on the word apa^ (ap), ' water,' and the root ap, ' to obtain, to pervade.'
I Kanda, I Adhyaya, I Braiimajva, 20. 9
them, saying, ' Ye shall not sacrifice ! ' and because they forbade (raksh), they are called Rakshas.
1 7. The gods then perceived this thunderbolt, to
wit, the water : the water is a thunderbolt, for the
water is indeed a thunderbolt ; hence wherever
it goes, it produces a hollow (or depression of
ground) ; and whatever it comes near, it destroys
(lit. it burns up). Thereupon they took up that
thunderbolt, and in its safe and foeless shelter
they spread (performed) the sacrifice. And thus
he (the Adhvaryu priest) likewise takes up this
thunderbolt, and in its safe and foeless shelter
spreads the sacrifice. This is the reason why he
brings forward water.
18. After pouring out some of it (into the jug)
he puts it down north of the Garhapatya fire.
For water (ap) is female and fire (agni) is male;
and the Garhapatya is a house : hence a copulation
productive of offspring is thereby effected in this
house. Now he who brings forward the water,
takes up a thunderbolt ; but when he takes up the
thunderbolt, he cannot do so unless he is firmly
placed ; for otherwise it destroys him.
19. The reason then why he places it near the
Garhapatya fire is, that the Garhapatya is a house,
and a house is a safe resting-place ; so that he
thereby stands firmly in a house, and therefore in
a safe resting-place : in this way that thunderbolt
does not destroy him, — for this reason he places it
near the Garhapatya fire.
20. He then carries it north of the Ahavaniya fire ^. For water is female and fire is male : hence
^ After the water has been brought forward by the Adhvaryu from the house of the Garhapatya fire, its technical name is Prawita,^,
lO ^ATAPATHA-BRAHMAA^A.
a copulation productive of offspring is thereby
effected. And in this way alone a regular copu-
lation can take place, since the woman lies on the
left (or north) side of the man.
2 1 . Let nobody pass between the water (and the
fire), lest by passing between them he should dis-
turb the copulation which is taking place. Let him
set the water down without carrying it beyond (the
north side of the fire, i. e. not on the eastern side) ;
nor should he put it down before reaching (the
north side, i. e. not on the western side). For, if
he were to put the water down after carrying it
beyond, — there being, as it were, a great rivalry
between fire and water, — he would cause this rivalry
to break forth on the part of the fire ; and when they
(the priests and the sacrificer) touch the water of
this (vessel), he would, by carrying it and setting it
down beyond (the northern side), cause the enemy
to rise (spirt) in the fire. If, on the other hand, he
were to put it down before gaining (the northern
side), he would not gain by it the fulfilment of the
wish for which it has been brought forward. Let
him therefore put it down exactly north of the
Ahavaniya fire.
2 2. He now strews sacrificial grass all round (the fires) \ and fetches the utensils, taking two at a
' brought forward.' On putting it down north of the Ahavaniya, he covers the jug over with sacrificial grass.
1 Katy. St. II, 3, 6 : ' Having strewn sacrificial grass around the fires, beginning on the east side,' which the Comm. interprets : * He strews eastward and northward-pointed grass around first the Ahavaniya, then the Garhapatya, and last the Dakshi;/agni, beginning each time on the eastern side, and then moving around from left to right, and turning his right side towards the fire, so as to end on the north side ' (cf. Katy. IV, 13, 15). The Paddhati, on
I KAiVDA, I ADIIYAYA, 2 BRAHMAi\^A, I. II
time, viz. the winnowing basket and the Agnihotra
ladle, the wooden sword and the potsherds, the
wedge and the black antelope skin, the mortar and
the pestle, the large and the small mill-stones.
These are ten in number ; for of ten syllables con-
sists the Vira^ (metre), and radiant (vira^)i also is
the sacrifice : so that he thereby makes the sacrifice
resemble the Vira^. The reason why he takes two
at a time is, because a pair means strength ; for
when two undertake anything, there is strength in
it. Moreover, a pair represents a productive copu-
lation, so that a productive copulation (of those
respective objects) is thereby effected.
Second BRAiiMAiVA.
I. Thereupon he takes the winnowing basket and
the Agnihotra ladle '\ with the text (Va^. S. I, 6 b):
'For the work (I take) you, for pervasion (or accom-
plishment) you two ! ' For the sacrifice is a work :
hence, in saying 'for the work you two,' he says, 'for
the sacrifice.' And 'for pervasion you two,' he says,
the other hand, following Apastamba, interprets it to the effect that on the eastern and western sides he strews the grass with its tops turned northward, and on the southern and northern sides with the tops turned eastward.
^ Or, 'and the sacrifice also is Vira^,' as the scholiast inter- prets the passage on the ground that at the performance of the G^yotish/oma 190 stotriya verses are used, and that this number is dividable by ten, the number of syllables in the Vira^ metre; cf. Weber, Ind. Streifen I, 36, note 4. See also X, 4, 3, 21, where the fire is identified with the vira^ on the ground that there are ten fires, viz. eight dhishwya fires and the Ahavaniya and Garhapa- tya. In VIII, 4, 5, 5 vira^ is explained as ' that which rules.'
^ For the Agnihotra-havawi or ladle used for making the
morning and evening milk-oblations, see note on I, 3, i, i. tor
the winnowing basket (.yurpa), see I, i, 4, 19 seq.
1 2 5ATAPATHA-BRAHMAiVA.
because he, as it were, pervades (goes through, accomplishes) the sacrifice.
2. He then restrains his speech ; for (restrained)
speech means undisturbed sacrifice ; so that (in so
doing) he thinks : * May I accomphsh the sacrifice!'
He now heats (the two objects on the Garhapatya),
with the formula (Va^. S. I, 7 a) : * Scorched is the
Rakshas, scorched are the enemies!' or (Vaf. S. I,
7b):' Burnt out is the Rakshas, burnt out are the
enemies ! '
3. For the gods, when they were performing the
sacrifice, were afraid of a disturbance on the part of
the Asuras and Rakshas: hence by this means
he expels from here, at the very opening^ of the
sacrifice, the evil spirits, the Rakshas.
4. He now steps forward (to the cart -), with the
text (Va^. S. I, 7 c) : 'I move along the wide aerial
realm.' For the Rakshas roams about in the air,
rootless and unfettered in both directions (below and
above) ; and in order that this man (the Adhvaryu)
may move about the air, rootless and unfettered in
both directions, he by this very prayer renders the
atmosphere free from danger and evil spirits.
5. It is from the cart that he should take (the rice
required for the sacrifice). For at first the cart (is
the receptacle of the rice) and afterwards this hall ;