Satapatha-Brâhmana, Part 56

BY: SUN STAFF - 14.6 2018

A serial presentation of the Satapatha Brahmana, translated by Julius Eggeling in 1882.

First Kânda - The Darsapûrnamâsa-Ishtî or New And Full-Moon Sacrifices

Eighth Adhyâya – Third Brâhmana, Part Three

1:8:3:22 - 22. He now throws the enclosing-sticks into the fire. The middle enclosing-stick he throws first, with the text (Vâg. S. II, 17 a), 'The stick which thou laidst around thee, O divine Agni, when thou wert concealed by the Panis, I bring thee for thy pleasure; may it not prove faithless to thee!'--With (ib. b), 'Approach ye the place beloved of Agni!' he throws the two others after it.

1:8:3:23 - 23. He then 1 seizes the guha and the upabhrit at the same time. For on the former occasion 2, when he anoints (the prastara sacrificer), he makes him an oblation, thinking, 'May he, as an oblation, go to the world of the gods!' for this reason he seizes the guhû and the upabhrit at the same time.

1:8:3:24 - 24. He seizes them for the Visve Devâh (the All-gods). For, assuredly, when any sacrificial food is taken without being announced to any one deity, then all the gods think that they have a share in it. Now when he takes that sacrificial food, the (residue of) butter, he does not announce it to any one deity; and hence he takes up (the two spoons) for the Visve Devâh, and thus makes that (residue of butter) the vaisvadeva 3 at the haviryagña.

1:8:3:25 - 25. He seizes them, with the text (Vâg. S. II, 18), 'The residue (of the butter) ye have for your share, ye, mighty by (this) food!' the residue, of course, is that which remains;--'O ye gods, staying on the prastara, and representing the enclosing-sticks 1;' for both the prastara and the enclosing-sticks have been thrown into the fire;--'All of you, applauding this speech,' thereby he makes it the vaisvadeva (belonging to the Visve Devâh);--'Be seated on this couch of grass (barhis) and enjoy yourselves! Svâhâ! Vât 2!' as one offers what has been consecrated by 'vashat,' this (residue) thereby becomes such for him (the sacrificer).

1:8:3:26 - 26. For whomsoever they take the sacrificial food from a cart, for him they unyoke (the spoons, by placing them) on the yoke of that cart, thinking, 'Where we yoke, there we also unyoke 3;' for from the same place where they yoke, they also unyoke. For him, on the other hand, for whom they take it from a jar, (they unyoke the spoons, by placing them) on the wooden sword, thinking, 'Where we yoke, there we also unyoke;' for from the same place where they yoke, they also unyoke.

1:8:3:27 - 27. Yoke-fellows, indeed, are these two spoons for the sacrifice: he yokes them when he starts 4 (or, first uses them). Now, were he only to release (unyoke) either of them after putting it down, it would fall down just as a draught animal 1 (would, if made to lie down before being unyoked). At the Svishtakrit these two undergo an unyoking: he then lays them down, and so unyokes them. He then yokes them again, at the after-offerings. Having performed the after-offerings, he effects another unyoking: he lays them down, and so unyokes them. Thereupon he yokes them again when he seizes them both at the same time; and when he has travelled over the way for which he has yoked them, he unyokes them. After the sacrifice offspring (is produced). Hence this man yokes (unites), and then unyokes, and again yokes them; and when he has travelled over the way for which he yoked them, he finally unyokes them. He lays (the spoons) down, with the text (Vâg. S. II, 19 a), 'Fond of butter are ye; protect the two yoke-fellows! gracious are ye: lead me to grace!' whereby he says, 'good are ye: lead me to goodness!'

Footnotes

236:2 The whole of the third Brâhmana is taken up with the duties of the Adhvaryu and Âgnîdhra at the three ceremonies: paragraphs 1-19 with those at the sûktavâka; pars. 20-22 with those at the samyuvâka; and pars. 23-27 with those at the offering of the remains (samsrava) of butter. The duties of the Hotri are then detailed in the fourth Brâhmana.

237:1 In Taitt. Br. III, 3, 9 a different symbolical explanation is given of the separation of the spoons: it is said there that by shifting the guhû eastwards, he drives away the enemies that have been born; and by shifting the upabhrit towards the west, he drives away those that will be born hereafter; and the sacrificer then stands firmly established in this world.

237:2 See p. 162, note 3.

238:1 This passage is of considerable importance, as showing that the prohibition of intermarriage between near blood-relations,--so rigidly enforced in later times, and already formulated in passages such as Âpast. Dharm. II, 5, 15, 16, 'One must not give one's daughter to a man belonging to the same gotra. Nor to one related (within six degrees) on the mother's (or father's) side.' Gobh. III, 4, 3-5, 'One must take for one's wife one who is not of the same gotra, or one who is not sapinda to one's mother,'--was not as yet firmly established in our author's time. Harisvâmin remarks on our text, that the Kânvas allow intermarriage in such cases from the third generation--(the Kânva text of the Sat. Br. reads, 'In the third man we unite, in the fourth man we unite')--and the Saurâshtras from the fourth generation; and that the Dâkshinâtyas allow marriage with daughters of the mother's brother, and with sons of the father's sister. See Weber, Ind. Stud. X, p. 75; Max Müller, History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, p. 387; Bühler, Sacred Laws of the Âryas, I, p. 126.

239:1 Viz. in the order in which they were laid around, i.e. first the middle one, then the southern, and lastly the northern one. Kâty. III, 5, 24.

239:2 The Adhvaryu calls on the Âgnîdhra with Make listen (o srâvaya);' and the latter responds with 'Yea, may (one) listen! (astu sraushat).' See I, 5, 2, 18 seq.

239:3 Sâyana on Taitt. S. I, 1, 13 explains this by 'Impelled are the divine Hotris by the highest Lord (paramesvara).'

240:1 On the Agnis officiating as Hotri, I, 2, 3, 1.

240:2 Thus Sâyana explains bhadravâkyâya on Taitt. S. I, 1, 13 (vol. i. p. 233). For the Hotri's formula itself, see Sat. Br. I, 9, 1, 4.

240:3 According to Kâty. III, 6, 1, and the other Sûtras, the Adhvaryu adds here sûktâ brûhi, 'recite the praises (hymns)!' which Sâyana on Taitt. Br. III, 6, 15 combines with the preceding sûktavâkâya, and explains thus: 'hotâ tvam sûktasya vâko vakanam yasya so 'yam devah sûktavâkah (? i.e. Agni, cf. Sat. Br. I, 9, 1, 4) tasmai sûktavâkâya devâya sûktâ brûhi, idamdyâvâprithivîm anuvâkoktâni sobhanâni vakanâni kathaya (!);' but differently on Taitt. S. I, 1, 13, 'idam dyâvâprithivî bhadram abhûd (Taitt. Br. III, 5, 10) ityâdyanuvâkah sûktam, tasya vâko vakanam, tadartham mânusho hotâ preshitah; ato hetoh, he hotas tat sûktam brûhi.'

240:4 The two stalks, called vidhriti (separation), separating the prastara-bunch from the barhis or grass-covering of the altar (cf. I, 3, 4, in), he puts back in the place whence they were taken. Kâty. III, 6, 4.

240:5 Svagâ.? literally 'self-go,' i.e.' success to him!'

241:1 Cf. Ait. Âr. III, I, 2, 2-4 (Max Müller, Up. I, p. 249): 'The first half (of a samhitâ or combination of final and initial letters) is the earth, the second half heaven, their uniting the rain, the uniter Parganya. And so it is when he (Parganya) rains thus strongly, without ceasing, day and night; then they say also (in ordinary language), "Heaven and earth have come together."' See also Sat. Br. I, 7, 2, 16.

242:1 Vyantu vayo 'ktam rihânâh. Mahîdhara interprets it, 'May the birds (i.e. the metres) go (? to heaven,--taking and) licking the anointed (prastara).' The Kânvas read, 'vyantu vayo ripto rihânâh.' The Black Yagus (Taitt. S. I, 1, 13, 1) has 'aktam rihânâ viyantu vayah, pragâm yonim mâ nirmriksham, âpyâyantâm âpa oshadhayah,' which Sâyana explains by 'May the birds having licked the anointed (top) go their several ways,' &c.; and the Taitt. Br. III, 3, 9, 3 remarks to viyantu vayah, 'Having made him birds, he makes him go to the heavenly world.' According to Sâyana, the three above formulas are by Âpastamba referred to the three acts of anointing, whereas the others, he says, divide the first formula into two, and use the second one (pragâm, &c.) while the lower part of the prastara is anointed. See, however, Hillebrandt, Neu- and Vollm. p. 142, note 3.

242:2 The Black Yagus (Taitt. S. I, 1, 13) has, 'The spotted (mares) of the Maruts are ye (O plants)!'

243:1 The itara âtmâ in pars. 27 and 19 have to be taken correlatively.

243:2 That is to say, he makes sure that the sacrificer has really obtained the object for which the sacrifice was undertaken,--the right to go to the heavenly world after his death.

244:1 He touches himself near the heart, or, according to Vaidyanâtha, he touches his eyes. After this he has, as usual, to touch the lustral water. See p. 2, note 2.

244:2 Here begins the samyuvâka; see p. 241, note 1.

244:3 'Svagâ´ daívyâ hôtribhyah.' The form daivyâ seems to have become fixed before hotri, in consequence of its frequent use, especially in the Âprî hymns, as nom. acc. dual daívyâ hótârâ; and in the invocation of the Idâ, as nom. plur. daívyâ hótârah.

245:1 Here begins the offering of the remains (samsrava) of butter; see p. 236, note 2.

245:2 See par. 14 above.

245:3 The author again connects the havis-offering with the more solemn Soma-sacrifice; the third, or evening, libation of Soma being supposed to belong to the Visve Devâh; cf. Vâg. S. XIX, 26; Ait. Br. VI, 4.

246:1 Paridheyâh, literally 'ye who are to be laid around;' according to Mahîdhara = paridhibhavâh. The Kânva text has paridhayah, 'enclosing-sticks.' The Black Yagus (Taitt. S. I, 1, 13, 2) has 'barhishadah (sitting on the Barhis)' instead.

246:2 The original meaning of this sacrificial call, as of the apparently allied vashat, vaushat, appears to be, 'May he (Agni) carry it (the oblation to the deity)!' Cf. p. 88, note 2.

246:3 See I, 1, 2, 8.

246:4 This seems to refer to the time when he gets the spoons ready for their sacred use. He then wipes them with sacrificial grass; that is, he, as it were, rubs down the horses before starting on his journey to the world of the gods. See p. 68, note 1.

247:1 I adopt the interpretation of Harisvâmin, who translates avârkhet by adhah patet. The St. Petersb. Dict. apparently proposes, 'he would unharness them, as he would unharness a horse (or team).' According to Harisvâmin, the author here controverts the view of the Karakas (karakasruti), who apparently taught that the (symbolical) unharnessing of the spoons should succeed their being laid down on the yoke; while our author maintains that the unharnessing should precede the laying down.