The Satapatha- Brahmana - Part - III Books 5, 6 and 7 - 5th Kanda - 1st Adhayaya

THE SATAPATHA-BRÂHMANA

The Satapatha Brahmana, Part III

THE SATAPATHA-BRÂHMANA

ACCORDING TO THE TEXT OF THE MÂDHYANDINA SCHOOL

Translated by

Julius Eggeling

Part III

Books V, VI and VII

INTRODUCTION.

THE first of the three Kândas contained in the present volume continues the dogmatic discussion of the different forms of Soma-sacrifice, in connection with which two important ceremonies, the Vâgapeya and Râgasûya, are considered. From a ritualistic point of view, there is a radical difference between these two ceremonies. The Râgasûya, or 'inauguration of a king,' strictly speaking, is not a Soma-sacrifice, but rather a complex religious ceremony which includes, amongst other rites, the performance of a number of Soma-sacrifices of different kinds. The Vâgapeya, or 'drink of strength' (or, perhaps, 'the race-cup'), on the other hand, is recognised as one of the different forms (samsthâ) which a single Soma-sacrifice may take. As a matter of fact, however, this form hardly ever occurs, as most of the others constantly do, in connection with, and as a constituent element of, other ceremonies, but is almost exclusively performed as an independent sacrifice. The reason why this sacrifice has received a special treatment in the Brâhmana, between the Agnishtoma and the Râgasûya, doubtless is that, unlike the other forms of Soma-sacrifice, it has some striking features of its own which stamp it, like the Râgasûya, as a political ceremony. According to certain ritualistic authorities 1, indeed, the performance of the Vâgapeya should be arranged in much the same way as that of the Râgasûya; that is, just as the central ceremony of the Râgasûya, viz. the Abhishekanîya or consecration, is preceded and followed by certain other Soma-days, so the Vâgapeya should be preceded and followed by exactly corresponding ceremonies.
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The preceding Kânda was chiefly taken up with a detailed discussion of the simplest form of a complete Soma-sacrifice, the Agnishtoma, serving as the model for all other kinds of one-day (ekâha) Soma-sacrifices; and it also adverted incidentally to some of the special features of such of the remaining fundamental forms of Soma-sacrifice as are required for the performance of sacrificial periods of from two to twelve pressing-days--the so-called ahîna-sacrifices--as well as for the performance of the sacrificial sessions (sattra) lasting from twelve days upwards. As the discussion of the Vâgapeya presupposes a knowledge of several of those fundamental forms of Soma-sacrifice, it may not be out of place here briefly to recapitulate their characteristic features.
The ekâha, or 'one-day' sacrifices, arc those Soma-sacrifices which have a single pressing-day, consisting of three services (or pressings, savana)--the morning, midday, and third (or evening) services--at each of which certain cups of Soma-liquor are drawn, destined to be ultimately consumed by the priests and sacrificer, after libations to the respective deities have been duly made therefrom. At certain stated times during the performance, hymns (stotra) are chanted by the Udgâtris; each of which is followed by an appropriate recitation (sastra) of Vedic hymns or detached verses, by the Hotri priest or one of his assistants. An integral part of each Soma-sacrifice, moreover, is the animal sacrifice (pasubandhu); the number of victims varying according to the particular form of sacrifice adopted. In the exposition of the Agnishtoma, the animal offering actually described (part ii, p. 162, seq.) is that of a he-goat to Agni and Soma, intended to serve as the model for all other animal sacrifices. This description is inserted in the Brâhmana among the ceremonies of the day preceding the Soma-day, the animal offering to Agni-Soma being indeed a constant feature of that day's proceedings at every Soma-sacrifice; whilst the slaughter of the special victim, or victims, of the respective sacrifice takes place during the morning service, and the meat-oblations are made during the evening service of the pressing-day. The ritualistic works enumerate a considerable number of 'one-day' sacrifices, all of them with special features of their
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own; most of these sacrifices are, however, merely modifications of one or other of the fundamental forms of ekâhas. Of such forms or samsthâs--literally, 'completions,' being so called because the final chants or ceremonies are their most characteristic features--the ritual system recognises seven, viz. the Agnishtoma. Atyagnishtoma. Ukthya, Shodasin, Vâgapeya 1, Atirâtra, and Aptoryâma.
The Agnishtoma, the simplest and most common form of Soma-sacrifice, requires the immolation of a single victim, a he-goat to Agni; and the chanting of twelve stotras, viz. the Bahish-pavamâna and four Âgya-stotras at the morning service; the Mâdhyandina-pavamâna and four Prishtha-stotras at the midday service; and the Tritîya (or Ârbhava)-pavamâna and the Agnishtoma-sâman at the evening service. It is this last-named chant, then, that gives its name to this sacrifice which, indeed, is often explained as the 'Agnishtoma-samsthah kratuh 2,' or the sacrifice concluding with 'Agni's praise.' The term 'sâman,' in its narrow technical sense, means a choral melody, a hymn-tune, without reference to the words set thereto. Not unfrequently, however, it has to be taken in the wider sense of a chanted verse or hymn (triplet), a chorale; but, though the distinction is evidently of some importance for the ritual, it is not always easy to determine the particular sense in which the term is meant to be applied, viz. whether a specified sâman is intended to include the original text set to the respective tune, or whether some other verses to which that tune has been adapted are intended. In the case of the Agnishtoma-sâman, however, the word 'sâman' cannot be taken in its narrow acceptation, but the term has to be understood in the sense of 'a hymn chanted in praise of Agni.' The words commonly used for this chant, are the first two verses of Rig-veda S. VI, 48, a hymn indeed
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admirably adapted for the purpose of singing Agni's praises. For the first verse, beginning 'yagñâ-yagñâ vo agnaye,' the chief tune-book, the Grâmageya-gâna, has preserved four different tunes, all of which are ascribed to the Rishi Bharadvâga: one of them has, however, come to be generally accepted as the Yagñâyagñîya-tune κατ᾽ ἐξοχήν, and has been made use of for this and numerous other triplets 1; whilst the other tunes seem to have met with little favour, not one of them being represented in the triplets arranged for chanting in stotras, as given in the Ûha and Uhya-gânas. Neither the Yagñâyagñîya-tune, nor its original text, is however a fixed item in the chanting of the Agnishtoma-sâman. Thus, for the first two verses of Rig-veda VI, 48, the Vâgapeya-sacrifice 2 substitutes verses nine and ten of the same hymn, and these are chanted, not to the Yagñâyagñîya, but to the Vâravantîya-tune, originally composed for, and named after, Rig-veda I, 27, 1 (S. V. I, 17; ed. Calc. I, p. 121) 'asvam na tvâ vâravantam.'
The Ukthya-sacrifice requires the slaughtering of a second victim, a he-goat to Indra and Agni; and to the twelve chants of the Agnishtoma it adds three more, the so-called Uktha-stotras, each of which is again followed by an Uktha-sastra recited by one of the Hotrakas, or assistants of the Hotri. As the evening service of the Agnishtoma had only two sastras, both recited by the Hotri, the addition of the three sastras of the Hotrakas would, in this respect, equalize the evening to the morning and midday savanas. The word 'uktha' is explained by later lexicographers either as a synonym of 'sâman,' or as a kind of sâman 3; but it is not unlikely that that meaning of the word was directly derived from this, the most common, use of the word in the term 'uktha-stotra.' The etymology of the word 4, at all events, would point to the
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meaning 'verse, hymn,' rather than to that of 'tune' or 'chant;' but, be that as it may, the word is certainly used in the former sense in the term 'mahad-uktha,' the name of the 'great recitation' of a thousand brihatî verses 1, being the Hotri's sastra in response to the Mahâvrata-stotra at the last but one day of the Gavâm-ayana. And, besides, at the Agnishtoma a special 'ukthya' cup of Soma-juice is drawn both at the morning and midday pressings, but not at the evening savana. This cup, which is eventually shared by the three principal Hotrakas between them, is evidently intended as their reward for the recitation of their 'ukthas.' At the Ukthya-sacrifice, as might have been expected, the same cup is likewise drawn at the evening service. Though it may be taken for granted, therefore, that 'uktha' was an older term for 'sastra,' it still seems somewhat strange that this terns should have been applied specially to the additional sastras and stotras of the Ukthya-sacrifice. Could it be that the name of the additional Ukthya-cup, as a distinctive feature of this sacrifice, suggested the name for the sastras and stotras with which that cup was connected, or have we rather to look for some such reason as Ait. Br. VI, 13 might seem to indicate? This passage contains a discussion regarding the different status of the Hotrakas who have ukthas of their own, and those who have not; and it then proceeds to consider the difference that exists between the two first and the third savanas of the Agnishtoma in respect of the Hotrakas’ ukthas. It is clear that here also, the term 'uktha' can hardly be taken otherwise than as referring to
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the sastras--though, no doubt, the stotra is sometimes said to belong to the priest who recites the sastra in response to it--and this paragraph of the Brâhmana reads almost like the echo of an old discussion as to whether or not there should be recitations for the Hotrakas at the evening service of a complete Soma-sacrifice. If, in this way, the question of uktha or no uktha had become a sort of catchword for ritualistic controversy, one could understand how the term came ultimately to be applied to the three additional stotras and sastras.
Not unfrequently, the Ukthya is treated merely as a redundant Agnishtoma, as an 'Agnishtomah sokthah,' or Agnishtoma with the Ukthas 1. Considering, however, that the term Agnishtoma, properly speaking, belongs only to a Soma-sacrifice which ends with the Agnishtoma (sâman), and that the addition of the Uktha-stotras also involves considerable modifications in the form of most of the preceding chants, a new term such as Ukthya, based on the completing and characteristic chants of this form of sacrifice, was decidedly more convenient. In regard to the composition of the preceding stotras, with the exception of the Mâdhyandina-pavamâna and the Agnishtoma-sâman, the Ukthya, indeed, may be said to constitute a parallel form of Sacrifice beside the Agnishtoma 2, the succeeding samsthâs following the model of either the one or the other of these two parallel forms.
The Shodasin-sacrifice requires, as a third victim, the
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immolation of a ram to Indra; and one additional chant, the shodasi-stotra, with its attendant sastra and Soma-cup. The most natural explanation of the name is the one supplied, in the first place, by Ait. Br. IV, 1 (as interpreted by Sâyana)--viz. the sacrifice which has sixteen, or a sixteenth, stotra 1. But, as the name applies not only to the sacrifice but also to the stotra and sastra, the Brâhmana further justifies the name by the peculiar composition of the shodasi-sastra in which the number sixteen prevails 2. Very probably, however, the name may have belonged to the sacrifice long before the sastra, for symbolic reasons, had assumed the peculiar form it now presents.
In this summary of the characteristic features of the forms of Soma-sacrifice presupposed by the Vâgapeya, no mention has yet been made of the Atyagnishtoma, or redundant Agnishtoma, which usually occupies the second place in the list of samsthâs. This form of sacrifice is indeed very little used, and there can be little doubt that it was introduced into the system, as Professor Weber suggests, merely for the sake of bringing up the Soma-samsthâs to the sacred number of seven. This sacrifice is obtained by the addition of the shodasi-stotra to the twelve chants of the Agnishtoma, as well as of the special Soma-cup and sacrificial victim for Indra, connected with that chant. It may thus be considered as a short form of the Shodasin-sacrifice (though without the full complement of stotras implied in that name), which might have suited the views of such ritualists as held the sastras of the Hotrakas at the evening service to be superfluous 3.
The distinctive feature of the Atirâtra-sacrifice, as the name itself indicates, is an 'overnight' performance of chants and recitations, consisting of three rounds of four stotras and sastras each. At the end of each round
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[paragraph continues] (paryâya) libations are offered, followed by the inevitable potations of Soma-liquor. That the performance, indeed, partook largely of the character of a regular nocturnal carousal, may be gathered from the fact, specially mentioned in the Aitareya Brâhmana, that each of the Hotri's offering-formulas is to contain the three words--'andhas,' Soma-plant (or liquor), 'pâ,' to drink, and 'mada,' intoxication. Accordingly, one of the formulas used is Rig-veda II, 19, 1 apâyy asyâ^ऽndhaso madâya, 'there has been drunk (by Indra, or by us) of this juice for intoxication.' The twelve stotras, each of which is chanted to a different tune, are followed up, at daybreak, by the Sandhi-stotra, or twilight-chant, consisting of six verses (Sâma-veda S. II, 99-104) chanted to the Rathantara-tune. This chant is succeeded by the Hotri's recitation of the Âsvina-sastra, a modification of the ordinary 'prâtar-anuvâka,' or morning-litany, by which the pressing-day of a Soma-sacrifice is ushered in 1. The Atirâtra also requires a special victim, viz. a he-goat offered to Sarasvatî, the goddess of speech. As regards the ceremonies preceding the night-performance, there is again a difference of opinion among ritualists as to whether the shodasi-stotra, with its attendant rites, is, or is not, a necessary element of the Atirâtra 2. Some authorities 3, accordingly, distinctly recognise two different kinds of Atirâtra,--one with, and the other without, the shodasin. In Kâtyâyana's Sûtra, there is no allusion to any difference of opinion on this point, but, in specifying the victims required at the different Soma-sacrifices, he merely remarks (IX, 8, 5) that, 'At the Atirâtra there is a fourth victim to Sarasvatî.' This would certainly seem to imply that there are also to be the three preceding victims, including the one to Indra peculiar to the Shodasin. Âsvalâyana (V, 11, 1) also refers incidentally to the shodasin as part of the
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[paragraph continues] Atirâtra, though it is not quite clear from the text of the sûtra whether it is meant to be a necessary or only an optional feature of that sacrifice. The Aitareya Brâhmana (IV, 6), on the other hand, in treating of the Atirâtra, enters on a discussion with the view of showing that the night-performance of that sacrifice is in every respect equal to the preceding day-performance; and accordingly, as the three services of the day-performance include fifteen chants and recitations (viz. the twelve of the Agnishtoma, and the three Ukthas), so, during the night, the three rounds of in all twelve stotras, together with the sandhi-stotra, here counted as three stotras (triplets), make up the requisite fifteen chants. This Brâhmana, then, does not recognise the shodasin as part of the Atirâtra, and, indeed, the manuals of the Atirâtra chants which I have consulted make no mention of the shodasi-stotra, though it is distinctly mentioned there among the chants of the Vâgapeya and the Aptoryâma. The passage in the Aitareya, just referred to, also seems to raise the question as to whether the Atirâtra is really an ekâha, or whether it is not rather an ahîna-sacrifice. On this point also the authorities seem to differ; whilst most writers take the Atirâtra. and the analogous Aptoryâma, to be 'one-day' sacrifices, the Tândya Brâhmana (XX) and Lâty. IX, 5, 6 class them along with the Ahînas 1; and they may indeed be regarded as intermediate links between the two classes of Soma-sacrifice, inasmuch as, in a continued sacrificial performance, the final recitations of these sacrifices take the place of the opening ceremony of the next day's performance. Such, for instance, is the case in the performance of the Atirâtra as the opening day of the Dvâdasâha, or twelve days’ period of sacrifice; whilst in the performance of the twelfth and concluding day, which is likewise an Atirâtra, the concluding ceremonies of the latter might be considered in
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a manner superabundant. It is probably in this sense that Lâty. (IX, 5, 4) calls the overnight performance of the last day of an ahîna (e. g. the Dvâdasâha) the yagñapukkha, or tail of the sacrifice, which is to fall beyond the month for which, from the time of the initiation, the ahîna is to last.
The Aptoryâma-sacrifice represents an amplified form of the Atirâtra. It requires the shodasi-stotra and the ceremonies connected with it as a necessary element of its performance; whilst its distinctive feature consists in four additional (atirikta-) stotras and sastras, chanted and recited after the Âsvina-sastra, the concluding recitation of the Atirâtra. These four chants are arranged in such a manner that each successive stotra is chanted to a different tune, and in a more advanced form of composition, from the trivrit (nine-versed) up to the ekavimsa (twenty-one-versed) stoma. In the liturgical manuals, the Aptoryâma, moreover, performs the function of serving as the model for a sacrificial performance with all the 'prishthas 1.' Though this mode of chanting has been repeatedly referred to in the translation and notes, a few additional remarks on this subject may not be out of place here. When performed in its 'prishtha' form, the stotra is so arranged that a certain sâman (or chanted triplet) is enclosed, as the 'garbha' (embryo), within some other sâman which, as its 'prishtha' (i.e. back, or flanks), is chanted a number of times before and after the verses of the central sâman. The tunes most commonly used for forming the enclosing sâmans of a Prishtha-stotra are the Rathantara and Brihat; and along with these, four others are singled out to make up the six Prishtha-sâmans κατ᾽ ἐξοχήν, viz. the Vairûpa (with the text Sâma-veda II, 212-13), Vairâga (II, 277-9), Sâkvara 2 (chanted on the Mahânâmnî verses,
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[paragraph continues] Aitar. Âr. IV), and Raivata 1 sâmans., These six sâmans are employed during the six days’ sacrificial period called Prishthya-shadaha, in such a way that one of them, in the order in which they are here enumerated, is used for the first, or Hotri's, Prishtha-stotra on the successive days of that period. In that case, however, these stotras are not performed in the proper 'prishtha' form 2, i.e. they have no other sâman inserted within them, but they are treated like any other triplet according to the particular stoma, or mode of composition, prescribed for them. But, on the other hand, in the Aptoryâma, when performed 'with all the Prishthas,' not only are a number of stotras chanted in the proper 'prishtha' form, but the 'prishtha' element asserts itself in yet another way, viz. by the appearance of all the six 'Prishtha-sâmans' in the course of the performance of the different stotras, in this way:--the Rathantara-tune forms the middlemost of the seven triplets of which the Madhyandina-pavamâna is composed;
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the Brihat forms the 'garbha,' or enclosed sâman, of the Agnishtoma-sâman 1; the Vairûpa the garbha of the third, the Vairâga that of the first, the Sâkvara that of the second, and the Raivata that of the fourth, Prishtha-stotra. It is doubtless this feature which gives to certain Soma-days the name of 'sarvaprishtha,' or one performed with all the (six) Prishthas. Then, as regards the particular stotras that are chanted in the proper 'prishtha' form, these include not only the four so-called Prishtha-stotras of the midday service, but also the four Âgya-stotras of the morning service, as well as the Agnishtoma-sâman and the three Uktha-stotras of the evening service,--in short, all the first fifteen stotras with the exception of the three Pavamâna-stotras. Of the stotras which succeed the Ukthas, on the other hand--viz. the Shodasin, the twelve chants of the three night-rounds, the Sandhi-stotra, and the four Atirikta-stotras--not one is performed in the 'prishtha' form. How often the several verses of the 'prishtha-sâman,' and those of the 'garbha' are to be chanted, of course depends, in each case, not only on the particular stoma which has to be performed, but also on the particular mode (vishtuti) prescribed, or selected, for the stoma. Thus, while all the four Âgya-stotras are chanted in the pañkadasa, or fifteen-versed-stoma; the four Prishtha-stotras are to be performed in the ekavimsa (of twenty-one verses), the katurvimsa (of twenty-four verses), the katuskatvârimsa (of forty-four verses), and the ashtâkatvârimsa (of forty-eight verses) respectively. Now whenever, as in the case of the pañkadasa and the ekavimsa-stomas, the number of verses is divisible by three, one third of the total number of verses is usually assigned to each of the three parts of the stotra, and distributed over the respective (three or sometimes four) verses of that sâman 2
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[paragraph continues] To illustrate this tripartite composition, the Hotri's Prishtha-stotra, performed in the twenty-one-versed stoma. may be taken as an example. For the 'prishtha,' the manuals give the Brihat-sâman, on its original text (Sâma-veda II, 159,160, 'tvâm id dhi havâmahe,' arranged so as to form three verses), though the Rathantara may be used instead 1. For the 'garbha,' or enclosed sâman, on the other hand, the Vairâga-sâman (with its original text, S. V. II, 277-9, 'pibâ somam indra mandatu tvâ') is to be used, a most elaborate tune 2, with long sets of stobhas, or musical ejaculations, inserted in the text. Of the twenty-one verses, of which the stoma consists, seven verses would thus fall to the share of the 'garbha,' and seven verses to that of the prishtha,' as chanted before and after the 'garbha.' Thus, in accordance with the formula set forth in p. xxii, note 2, the three verses (a, b, c) of the Brihat would be chanted in the form aaa-bbb-c; then the verses of the Vairâga-sâman (as 'garbha') in the form a-bbb-ccc; and finally again the Brihat in the form aaa-b-ccc. Stotras, the total number of verses of which is not divisible by three, of course require a slightly different distribution. Thus, of the third Prishtha-stotra, the stoma of which consists of forty-four verses, the two parts of the 'prishtha' obtain fifteen verses each, whilst the 'garbha' has only fourteen verses for its share.
The Vâgapeya, the last of the seven forms of a complete Soma-sacrifice, occupies an independent position beside the Atirâtra and Aptoryâma, whose special features it does not share. Like them, it starts from the Shodasin, to the characteristic (sixteenth) chant (and recitation) of which it acids one more stotra, the Vâgapeya-sâman, chanted to the Brihat-tune, in the Saptadasa (seventeen-versed) stoma, and followed by the recitation of the Vâgapeya-sastra. The Saptadasa-stoma, indeed, is so characteristic of this sacrifice that--as has been set forth at p. 8 note
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below--all the preceding chants, from the Bahishpavamâna onward, are remodelled in accordance with it. Besides, over and above the three victims of the Shodasin-sacrifice, the Vâgapeya requires, not only a fourth one, sacred to Sarasvatî, the goddess of speech, but also a set of seventeen victims for Pragâpati, the god of creatures and procreation. As regards other rites peculiar to the Vâgapeya, the most interesting, doubtless, is the chariot-race in which the sacrificer, who must be either of the royal or of the priestly order, is allowed to carry off the palm, and from which this sacrifice perhaps derives its name. Professor Hillebrandt 1, indeed, would claim for this feature of the sacrifice the character of a relic of an old national festival, a kind of Indian Olympic games; and though there is perhaps hardly sufficient evidence to bear out this conjecture, it cannot at least be denied that this feature has a certain popular look about it.
Somewhat peculiar are the relations between the Vâgapeya and the Râgasûya on the one hand, and between the Vâgapeya and the Brihaspatisava on the other. In the first chapter of the fifth book, the author of this part of our Brâhmana is at some pains to impress the fact that the Vâgapeya is a ceremony of superior value and import to the Râgasûya; and hence Kâtyâyana (XV, 1, 1-2) has two rules to the effect that the Râgasûya may be performed by a king who has not yet performed the Vâgapeya. These authorities would thus seem to consider the drinking of the Vâgapeya-cup a more than sufficient equivalent for the Râgasûya, or inauguration of a king; they do not, however, say that the Râgasûya must be performed prior to the Vâgapeya, but only maintain that the Vâgapeya cannot be performed after the Râgasûya. The Râgasûya, according to the Brâhmana, confers on the sacrificer royal dignity (râgya), and the Vâgapeya paramount sovereignty (sâmrâgya). It might almost seem as if the relatively loose positions here assigned to the Râgasûya were entirely owing to the fact that it is a purely Kshatriya ceremony to which the
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[paragraph continues] Brâhmana has no right, whilst the Vâgapeya may be performed by Brâhmanas as well as Kshatriyas. But on whatever grounds this appreciation of the two ceremonies may be based, it certainly goes right in the face of the rule laid down by Âsvalâyana (IX, 9, 19) that, 'after performing the Vâgapeya, a king may perform the Râgasûya, and a Brâhmana the Brihaspatisava.' With this rule would seem to accord the relative value assigned to the two ceremonies in the Taittirîya Samhitâ (V, 6, 2, 1) and Brâhmana (II, 7, 6, 1), according to which the Vâgapeya is a 'samrâtsava,' or consecration to the dignity of a paramount sovereign, while the Râgasûya is called a 'varunasava,' i.e., according to Sâyana, a consecration to the universal sway wielded by Varuna 1. In much the same sense we have doubtless to understand the rule in which Lâtyâyana defines the object of the Vâgapeya (VIII, 11, 1), viz. 'Whomsoever the Brâhmanas and kings (or nobles) may place at their head, let him perform the Vâgapeya.' All these authorities, with the exception of the Satapatha-Brâhmana and Kâtyâyana, are thus agreed in making the Vâgapeya a preliminary ceremony, performed by a Brâhmana who is raised to the dignity of a Purohita, or head-priest (so to speak, a minister of worship, and court-priest), or by a king who is elected paramount sovereign by a number of petty râgas; this sacrifice being in due time followed by the respective installation and consecration ceremony, viz. the Brihaspatisava, in the case of the Purohita; and the Râgasûya, in that of the king. In regard to the Brihaspatisava, which these authorities place on an equality with the Râgasûya, our Brâhmana finds itself in a somewhat awkward position, and it gets out of its difficulty (V, 2, 1, 19) by simply identifying the Brihaspatisava with the Vâgapeya, and making the Vâgapeya itself to be 'the consecration of Brihaspati;' and Kâtyâyana (XIV, 1, 2) compromises matters by combining the two ceremonies in this way that he who performs the Vâgapeya is to perform the Brihaspatisava for a fortnight before and after the Vâgapeya.
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The Râgasûya, or inauguration of a king, is a complex ceremony which, according to the Srauta-sûtras, consists of a long succession of sacrificial performances, spread over a period of upwards of two years. It includes seven distinct Soma-sacrifices, viz. 1, the Pavitra, an Agnishtoma serving as the opening sacrifice, and followed, after an interval of a year (during which the seasonal sacrifices have to be performed), by 2, the Abhishekanîya, an Ukthya-sacrifice, being the consecration (or anointing) ceremony. Then follows 3, the Dasapeya, or 'drink of ten,' an Agnishtoma, so-called because ten priests take part in drinking the Soma-liquor contained in each of the ten cups. After another year's interval 1, during which monthly 'offerings to the beams (i.e. the months)' are made, takes place 4, the Kesavapanîya, or hair-cutting ceremony, an Atirâtra-sacrifice; followed, after a month or fortnight, by d, and 6, the Vyushti-dvirâtra, or two nights’ ceremony of the dawning, consisting of an Agnishtoma and an Atirâtra and finally 7, the Kshatra-dhriti, or 'the wielding of the (royal) power,' an Agnishtoma performed a month later. The round of ceremonies concludes with the Sautrâmanî, an ishti the object of which is to make amends for any excess committed in the consumption of Soma-liquor.
The fifth book completes the dogmatic discussion of the ordinary circle of sacrifices, some less common, or altogether obsolete, ceremonies, such as the Asvamedha (horse-sacrifice), Purushamedha (human sacrifice), Sarvamedha (sacrifice for universal rule), being dealt with, by way of supplement, in the thirteenth book.
With the sixth Kânda, we enter on the detailed explanation of the Agnikayana, or building of the fire-altar, a very solemn ceremony which would seem originally to have stood apart from, if not in actual opposition to, the ordinary sacrificial system, but which, in the end. apparently by some ecclesiastical compromise, was added
p. xxvii
on to the Soma ritual as an important, though not indispensable, element of it. The avowed object of this ceremony is the super-exaltation of Agni, the Fire, who, in the elaborate cosmogenic legend with which this section begins, is identified with Pragâpati, the lord of Generation, and the source of life in the world. As the present volume contains, however, only a portion of the Agnikayana ritual, any further remarks on this subject may be reserved for a future occasion.
Since the time when this volume went to press, the literature of the Soma myth has been enriched by the appearance of an important book, the first volume of Professor A. Hillebrandt's Vedische Mythologie, dealing with Soma and cognate gods. As it is impossible for me here to enter into a detailed discussion of the numerous points raised in the work, I must content myself for the present with the remark that I believe Professor Hillebrandt to have fully established the main point of his position, viz. the identity of Soma with the Moon in early Vedic mythology.

Footnotes

xi:1 See Katy. Sr. XIV, 1, 7; Lâty. Sr. VIII, 11, 7-11.
xiii:1 In this enumeration the Vâgapeya is often placed between the Atirâtra and Aptoryâma; Lâty. V, 4, 24.
xiii:2 Thus on Sat. Br. V, 1, 3, 1 Âgneyam agnishtoma âlabhate, Sâyana remarks, 'agnih stûyate^ऽsminn ity agnishtomo nâma sâma, tasmin vishayabhûta âgneyam âlabhate, etena pasunâ^ऽsmin vâgapeye^ऽgnishtomasamstham kratum evânushthitavan bhavati.' In IV, 2, 4, 9 seq., also, the term 'agnishtoma' would seem to apply to the final chant rather than to the whole sacrifice.
xiv:1 Each Sâman-tune is usually chanted thrice, either each time on a special verse of its own, or so that, by certain repetitions of words, two verses are made to suffice for the thrice-repeated tune.
xiv:2 So also does the Agnishtut ekâha, cf. Tândya Br. XVII, 7.
xiv:3 Sâyana, to Sat. Br. IV, 3, 3, 2, explains it by 'stotra;' but see IV, 2, 3, 6-9 where it undoubtedly refers to the recited verses (rik), not to the sâman.
xiv:4 Viz. from root 'vak' to speak. I cannot see the necessity for taking p. xv 'brihad vakas' in Rig-veda VII, 96, 1 in the technical sense of Brihat-tune, as is done by Prof. Hillebrandt, in his interesting essay, 'Die Sonnwendfeste in Alt-Indien,' p. 29, merely because it is used there in connection with Indra; whilst he himself is doubtful as to whether it should be taken in the same sense in III, 10, 5 where it occurs in connection with Agni. Though the Brihat-sâman is no doubt frequently referred to Indra, and the Rathantara to Agni, the couplets ordinarily chanted to them (Rig-veda VI, 46, 1-2 and VII, 32, 22, 23) are both of them addressed to Indra. Both tunes are, however, applied to verses addressed to all manner of deities.
xv:1 See Catalogue of Sanskrit MSS. of the India Office, No. 434. In Kaush. Br. XI, 8, 'sadasy ukthâni sasyante,' also, the word has undoubtedly the sense of sastra, or (recited) hymn. In part i, p. 346, note 3 of this translation read 'great recitation or sastra,' instead of 'great chant.'
xvi:1 See, for instance, Tândya Br. XX, 1, 1.
xvi:2 Perhaps the most characteristic point of difference between these two forms in which the fundamental stotras are chanted is the first (or Hotri's) Prishtha-stotra at the midday service. Whilst the Agnishtoma here requires the Rathantara-tune chanted on the text, Sâma-vela S. II, 30, 31; the Ukthya, on the other hand, requires the text, S. V. II, 159, 160, chanted to the Brihat-tune. Professor Hillebrandt, l.c., p. 22, has, indeed, tried to show that these two tunes play an important part in early India in connection with the celebration of the solstices. A similar alternation of sâmans to that of the Hotri's Prishtha-stotra obtains at the third, or Brâhmanâkkhamsin's Prishtha-stotra; the Naudhasa-sâman (II, 35, 36) being used at the Agnishtoma, and the Syaita-sâman at the Ukthya-sacrifice. As regards the second (or Maitrâvaruna's) and fourth (or Akkhâvâka's) Prishtha-stotras, on the other hand, the same sâman--viz. the Vâmadevya (II, 32-341 and Kâleya (II, 37, 3S respectively--is used both at the Agnishtoma and Ukthya.
xvii:1 This is also the explanation of the term given by Sâyana in his commentary on Tândya Br. XII, 13, 1.
xvii:2 See this translation, part ii, p. 402, note 1.
xvii:3 See part ii, p. 402, note 2, where it is stated that the tenth and last day of the Dasarâtra is an Atyagnishtoma day, called Avivâkya, i.e. one on which there should be no dispute or quarrel.
xviii:1 See part ii, p. 226 seq. On the present occasion the Prâtur-anuvâka is, however, to consist of as many verses as, counting their syllables, would make up a thousand brihatî-verses (of thirty-six syllables each). The three sections of the ordinary morning-litany from the body of the Âsvina-sastra which concludes, after sunrise, with verses addressed to Sûrya, the sun.
xviii:2 Cf. Lâty. Sr. VIII, 1, 16; IX, 5, 23 with commentary.
xviii:3 Notably Tândya Br. XX, 1, 1 seq.
xix:1 The Aitareya Brâhmana (VI, 18) in discussing the so-called sampâta hymns inserted in continued performances, with the view of establishing a symbolic connection between the several days, curiously explains the term 'ahîna,' not from 'ahas' day, but as meaning 'not defective, where nothing is left out' (a-hîna).
xx:1 From Âsvalâyana's rule (IX, 11, 4), 'If they chant in forming the garbha (i.e. in the 'prishtha' form), let him (the Hotri or Hotraka) recite in the same way the stotriyas and anurûpas,' it seems, however, clear that the Aptoryâma may also be performed without the Prishthas.
xx:2 The original text of the Sâkvara-sâman is stated (by Sâyana on Aitar. Br. IV, 13; Mahîdhara on Vâg. S. X, 14, &c.) to be Sâma-veda II, 1152-3, 'pro shv asmai puroratham,' but the Sâma-veda Gânas do not seem to give the tune p. xxi with that text, but with the Mahânâmnî verses (ed. Bibl. Ind. II, p. 371). The Tândya Br. XIII, 4 (and comm.), gives minute directions as to the particular pâdas of the first three Mahânâmnî triplets which are singled out as of a sâkvara (potent) nature, and are supposed to form the three stotriyâ verses of the sâkvara-sâman, consisting of seven, six, and five pâdas respectively. The asâkvara pâdas are, however, likewise chanted in their respective places, as is also the additional tenth verse, the five pâdas of which are treated as mere supplementary (or 'filling in') matter.
xxi:1 That is, the Vâravantîya-tune adapted to the 'Revatî' verses. The Vâravantîya-tune is named after its original text, Rig-veda I, 27, 1, 'asvam na tvâ vâravantam' (Sâma-veda, ed. Bibl. Ind. I, p. 121). When used as one of the Prishtha-sâmans it is not, however, this, its original text, that is chanted to it, but the verses Rig-veda I, 30, 13-15, 'revatîr nah sadhamâda' (Sâma-veda II, 434-6, ed. vol. iv, p. 56), whence the tune, as adapted to this, triplet, is usually called Raivata. The Raivata-sâman, thus, is a signal instance of the use of the term 'sâman' in the sense of a chanted verse or triplet.
xxi:2 The statement, in part ii, p. 403 note (and repeated in the present part, p. 6, note 2), that, while the Prishtha-stotras of the Abhiplava-shadaha are performed in the ordinary (Agnishtoma) way, the Prishthya-shadaha requires their performance in the proper Prishtha form, is not correct. In both kinds of shadaha, the Prishtha-stotras are performed in the ordinary way (viz. in the Agnishtoma or Ukthya way, see p. 4 note); but whilst, in the Abhiplava, the Rathantara and Brihat sâmans are used for the Hotri's Prishtha-stotra on alternate days, the Prishthya-shadaha requires a different Prishtha-sâman on each of the six days. The two kinds of shadahas also differ entirely in regard to the sequence of stomas prescribed for the performance of the stotras.
xxii:1 Either the Rathantara or the Brihat also forms the 'prishtha,' or enclosing sâman, of the fist Prishtha-stotra.
xxii:2 Whenever the stotra is not performed in the 'prishtha' form, but consists of a single sâman or triplet, the repetitions required to make up the number of verses implied in the respective stoma, are distributed over the three verses of the sâman in such a way that the whole sâman is chanted thrice, each time with various repetitions of the single verses. The usual form in which the p. xxiii ekavimsa is performed may be represented by the formula aaa-bbb-c; a-bbb-ccc; aaa-b-ccc, making together twenty-one verses.
xxiii:1 Âsval. Sr. IX, 3, 4-5.
xxiii:2 It is given somewhat imperfectly in the ed. Bibl. Ind. V, p. 391.
xxiv:1 Vedische Mythologie, p. 247.
xxv:1 Cf. Sâṅkh. Sr. XV, 13, 4, 'for it is Varuna whom they consecrate.'
xxvi:1 The Brâhmana (V. 5, 2, 2), however, would rather seem to dispense with this interval by combining the twelve oblations so as to form two sets of six each.

SATAPATHA-BRÂHMANA.

FIFTH KÂNDA.

A. THE VÂGAPEYA.

FIRST ADHYÂYA. FIRST BRÂHMANA.

5:1:1:11. Once upon a time the gods and the Asuras, both of them sprung from Pragâpati, strove together. And the Asuras, even through arrogance, thinking, 'Unto whom, forsooth, should we make offering?' went on offering into their own mouths. They came to naught, even through arrogance: wherefore let no one be arrogant, for verily arrogance is the cause 1 of ruin.
5:1:1:22. But the gods went on making offerings unto one another. Pragâpati gave himself up to them: thus the sacrifice 2 became theirs; and indeed the sacrifice is the food of the gods 3.
5:1:1:33. They then spake, 'To which of us shall this 4 belong?' They did not agree together, saying,
p. 2
[paragraph continues] 'To me! to me!' Not being agreed, they said, 'Let us run a race for it: whichever of us shall win, to him it shall belong!'--'So be it!' so they ran a race for it.
5:1:1:44. Then Brihaspati hasted up to Savitri for his impulsion 1,--Savitri being the impeller (prasavitri) among the gods--saying, 'Impel this for me, (so that) impelled by thee, I may win this!' Then Savitri, as the impeller, impelled it for him, and impelled by Savitri, he won: he became everything here, he won everything here; for he won Pragâpati, and Pragâpati (the lord of creatures and procreation) indeed is everything here. By offering therewith he (Brihaspati) ascended to that upper region. Therefore who so knoweth, and who so knoweth not,--they say, 'That upper region belongeth to Brihaspati.'
5:1:1:55. Thus they who of old used to offer the Vâgapeya, ascended to that upper region. From there Aupâvi Gânasruteya descended again: thenceforward (all men) descend again.
p. 3
5:1:1:66. Indra offered that (Vâgapeya),--he became everything here, he won everything here; for he won Pragâpati, and Pragâpati  is everything here: by offering therewith he ascended to that upper region.
5:1:1:77. Thus they who of old used to offer the Vâgapeya, ascended to that upper region. From there Aupâvi Gânasruteya descended' again: thenceforward (all men) descend again.
5:1:1:88. And whosoever offers the Vâgapeya, he becomes everything here, he wins everything here; for he wins Pragâpati, and Pragâpati indeed is everything here.
5:1:1:99. Here now they say, 'One must not offer the Vâgapeya; for he who offers the Vâgapeya wins everything here,--for he wins Pragâpati, and Pragâpati is everything here,--he leaves nothing remaining here: his people (or offspring) is like to become worse (off).'
5:1:1:1010. Let him none the less sacrifice: whatever (priests) thus know that sacrifice properly, in respect of the Rik, the Yagus, and the Sâman, and such as are proficient, let them assist him in offering it; for verily this is the perfection of that sacrifice, when wise (priests) assist him in offering it: let him therefore sacrifice by all means.
5:1:1:1111. Now truly this (the Vâgapeya) is the Brâhmana's own sacrifice, inasmuch as Brihaspati (the lord of prayer and devotion) performed it; for Brihaspati is the Brahman (priesthood, or priestly dignity), and the Brâhmana is the Brahman. And it is also that of the Râganya, inasmuch as Indri performed it; for Indra is the Kshatra (nobility, or ruling power), and the Râganya is the Kshatra.
p. 4
5:1:1:1212. To the king (râgan) doubtless belongs the Râgasûya; for by offering the Râgasûya he becomes king; and unsuited for kingship is the Brâhmana. And, moreover, the Râgasûya is the lower, and the Vâgapeya the higher (sacrifice).
5:1:1:1313. For by offering the Râgasûya 1 he becomes king, and by the Vâgapeya (he becomes) emperor (samrâg); and the office of king is the lower, and that of emperor the higher: a king might indeed wish to become emperor, for the office of king is the lower, and that of emperor the higher; but the emperor would not wish to become king, for the office of king is the lower, and that of emperor the higher.
5:1:1:1414. Thus that (king) who, by performing the Vâgapeya, becomes emperor, possesses himself of everything here. Previously to each performance (of an ishti 2) he offers that oblation to Savitri (the sun), with the text, 'O divine Savitri, impel (prosper) the sacrifice, impel Pragâpati for his portion!'
p. 5
5:1:1:1515. And even as then Brihaspati hasted up to Savitri for his impulsion Savitri being the impeller among the gods--saying, 'Impel this for me, (so that) impelled by thee I may win it!' and Savitri, as the impeller, impelled it for him; and impelled by Savitri he won it; even so does this (sacrificing king) now haste up to Savitri for his impulsion--Savitri being the impeller among the gods--saying, 'Impel this for me: may I win it, impelled by thee!' and Savitri, as the impeller, impels it for him, and he wins it impelled by Savitri.
5:1:1:1616. Wherefore he says (Vâg. S. IX, 1), 'God Savitri, speed the sacrifice, speed the lord of sacrifice unto his portion! May the heavenly. thought-cleansing Gandharva cleanse our thought! May the Lord of Speech render our meat palatable, hail!' For the Lord of Speech is Pragâpati, and meat means food: 'May Pragâpati this day make palatable this our food!' thus he thereby says. This same oblation he offers till the day before the Soma-feast, for thus that performance of his has been commenced; and he (Savitri, the Sun) becomes serene during that sacrifice.

Footnotes

1:1 Lit. 'the mouth,' i.e. the opening or beginning, of ruin. The St. Petersburg Dict. compares Prov. xvi. 18: 'Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.'
1:2 Pragâpati (the lord of creatures or generation) is both the sacrifice and the year (time); see III, 2, 2, 4.
1:3 See II, 4, 2, 1. To them (the gods) he (Pragâpati) said, 'The sacrifice (shall be) your food, immortality your sustenance (ûrg), and the sun your light!'
1:4 For the neuter idam--hardly here 'this universe,' or 'vâgapeyam,' p. 2 but rather 'this thing, it'--the Kânva text reads ayam 'he,' i.e. Pragâpati, or the sacrifice (yagña, masc.); cf. note on V, 1, 4, 15.
2:1 For want of a simpler and more homely set of terms for the derivatives of the verb sû 'to animate' here used, those used in the preceding volumes are here generally adhered to, though, as there, somewhat reluctantly. The simple 'to bless, blessing, &c.' might sometimes fit quite well, though no doubt they imply an idea altogether foreign to the etymological meaning of this verb, and could not possibly be used, as is the case here, of the animating influence of the sun. Sometimes 'to speed' has been chosen, where the etymological connection with Savitri is not insisted upon; while in other passages 'to consecrate, consecration, &c.' might probably come nearer to the meaning of the original. Cp. Delbrück, Altindische Syntax, p. 256.
4:1 Kâty. Sr. XV, I, 1-2, lays down the rule that the Râgasûya is to be performed by a king who has not yet performed the Vâgapeya. Âsval. Sr. IX, 9, 19, on the other hand, rules: 'After performing it (the Vâgapeya) let a king perform the Râgasûya, a Brâhmana the Brihaspati-sava' (cf. V, 2, 1, 19). See also Kâty. XIV, 1, 2 seq. Cf. Lâty. Sr. VIII, 11, 1 seq.
4:2 During the bright fortnights (of the waxing moon) preceding and following the Vâgapeya ceremony proper, the sacrificer has to perform a number of so-called pariyagña ('surrounding or enclosing sacrifices') consisting of one-day Soma-sacrifices of different kinds, each of which is preceded by a special dîkshâ, or initiation ceremony (cf. III, 1, 2, 1 seq.; Lâty. Sr. VIII, 11, 2). It is to the ishtis (dîkshanîyeshti, prâyanîyeshti) of these pariyagñas that the above injunction regarding the performance of the Sâvitrî âhuti refers.

SECOND BRÂHMANA.

5:1:2:11. He draws the Amsu 1 (graha), just for completeness’ sake, for it is therefor that he draws
p. 6
the Amsu. After that he draws those recognised Agnishtoma cups 1 up to the Âgrayana.
5:1:2:22, He then draws the Prishthyas 2: and whatever the gods (Agni, Indra, and Sûrya) won by them, even that he wins by them.
5:1:2:33. He then draws the Shodasin: and whatever Indra won thereby, even that he (the sacrificer) wins thereby.
5:1:2:44. He then draws those five Vâgapeya cups (for Indra; the first) with the text (V. S. IX, 2), 'Thee, the firm-seated, the man-seated, the mind-seated! Thou art taken with a support 3: I take thee, agreeable to Indra! This is thy womb' (i.e. thy home): thee, most agreeable to Indra!' therewith he deposits it; for of these
p. 7
worlds this one, to wit the earth, is the firm one: this same world he thereby wins.
5:1:2:55. [The second with,] 'Thee, the water-seated, the ghee-seated, the ether-seated! Thou art taken with a support: I take thee, agreeable to Indra! This is thy womb: thee most agreeable to Indra!' therewith he deposits it; for among these worlds that ether (mentioned in the formula) is this air: he thereby wins this air-world.
5:1:2:66. [The third with,] 'Thee, the earth-seated, the air-seated, the sky-seated, the god-seated, the heaven-seated! Thou art taken with a support: I take thee, agreeable to Indra! This is thy womb: thee, most agreeable to Indra!' therewith he deposits it; for god-seated, heaven-seated indeed is yonder world of the gods: the world of the gods he thereby wins.
5:1:2:77. [The fourth with V. S. IX, 3,] 'The waters’ invigorating essence, being contained in the sun,--that which is the essence of the waters’ essence, that, the most excellent, I take for you! Thou art taken with a support: I take thee, agreeable to Indra! This is thy womb: thee, most agreeable to Indra!' therewith he deposits it; for the waters’ essence is he that blows (or purifies) yonder (the wind), and he is contained in the sun, he blows from the sun: that same essence he thereby wins.
5:1:2:88. [The fifth with IX, 4,] 'Ye cups, of strengthening libations, inspiring the sage with thought,--I have gathered together the pith and sap of you, the handleless! Thou art taken with a support: thee, agreeable to Indra! This is thy womb: thee, most agreeable to
p. 8
[paragraph continues] Indra!' therewith he deposits it;--pith means essence: it is the essence he thereby wins.
5:1:2:99. These, then, are five Vâgapeya cups he draws; for he who offers the Vâgapeya wins Pragâpati; and Pragâpati is the year, and there are five seasons in the year,--he thus wins Pragâpati: therefore he draws five Vâgapeya cups.
5:1:2:1010. He (the Adhvaryu) then draws seventeen (other) cups of Soma, and (the Neshtri) seventeen cups of Surâ (spirituous liquor), for to Pragâpati belong these two (saps of) plants, to wit the Soma and the Surâ;--and of these two the Soma is truth, prosperity, light; and the Surâ untruth, misery, darkness: both these (saps of) plants he thereby wins; for he who offers the Vâgapeya wins everything here, since he wins Pragâpati, and Pragâpati indeed is everything here.
5:1:2:1111. Now as to why he draws seventeen cups of Soma;--Pragâpati is seventeenfold, Pragâpati is the sacrifice 1: as great as the sacrifice is, as great as is
p. 9
its measure, with that much he thus wins its truth, its prosperity, its light.
5:1:2:1212. And why he draws seventeen cups of Surâ;--Pragâpati is seventeenfold, Pragâpati is the sacrifice: as great as the sacrifice is, as great as is its measure, with that much he thus wins its untruth, its misery, its darkness.
5:1:2:1313. These two amount to thirty-four cups; for there are thirty-three gods, and Pragâpati is the thirty-fourth: he thus wins Pragâpati.
5:1:2:1414. Now when he buys the king (Soma), he at the same time buys for a piece of lead the Parisrut (immature spirituous liquor) from a long-haired man near by towards the south. For a long-haired man is neither man nor woman; for, being a male, he is not a woman; and being long-haired (a eunuch), he is not a man. And that lead is neither iron nor gold; and the Parisrut-liquor is neither Soma nor Surâ 1: this is why he buys the Parisrut for a piece of lead from a long-haired man.
5:1:2:1515. And on the preceding day they prepare two
p. 10
earth-mounds 1, the one in front of the axle, and the other behind the axle: 'Lest we should deposit together the cups of Soma, and the cups of Surâ,'--this is why, on the preceding day, they prepare two mounds, one in front, and the other behind the axle.
5:1:2:1616. Now, when they take the Vasatîvarî water 2 (into the havirdhâna shed) by the front door, the Neshtri takes in the Parisrut-liquor by the back door. From the south they bring in the drinking vessels. The Adhvaryu, seated in front of the axle, with his face towards the west, draws the cups of Soma; and the Neshtri, seated behind the axle, with his face towards the east, draws the cups of Surâ. The Adhvaryu draws a cup of Soma, the Neshtri a cup of Surâ; the Adhvaryu draws a cup of Soma, the Neshtri a cup of Surâ: in this way they draw them alternately.
5:1:2:1717. Neither does the Adhvaryu hold the Soma-cup beyond the axle towards the back, nor the Neshtri the Surâ-cup beyond the axle towards the front, thinking, 'Lest we should confound light and darkness!'
5:1:2:1818. The Adhvaryu holds the Soma-cup just over the axle, and the Neshtri the Surâ-cup just below
p. 11
the axle, with (V. S. IX, 4), 'United ye are: unite me with happiness!' Thinking, 'Lest we should say "evil",' they withdraw them again, with, 'Disunited ye are: disunite me from evil!' Even as one might tear a single reed from a clump of reed-grass, so do they thereby tear him from out of all evil: there is not in him so much sin as the point of a grass-blade. They deposit the two (cups each time on the mounds).
5:1:2:1919. Thereupon the Adhvaryu draws the Madhu-graha (honey-cup) in a golden vessel, and deposits it in the middle of the Soma-grahas. He then draws the Ukthya, then the Dhruva. And when, at the last chant (of the evening press feast 1), he has poured those Soma-grahas one by one into the cups of the officiating priests, they make offering and drink them. At the midday-pressing it is told regarding the honey-cup, and the cups of Surâ: thereof then 2.

Footnotes

5:1 Regarding this cup, or libation (consisting, it would seem, of imperfectly pressed Soma-plants in water), see part ii, p. 424, note 1. Here, and in the sequel, the author only refers to those points of ceremonial in which the performance differs from that of the ordinary Agnishtoma sacrifice, as described in part ii.
6:1 Viz. the Upâmsu and Antaryâma; the Aindravâyava, Maitrâvaruna and Âsvina; the Sukra and Manthin; and the Âgrayana. Part ii, pp. 256 seq.
6:2 That is, the three Atigrâhyas (part ii, p. 402, note 2), required for the Prishtha-stotras at the midday feast, when performed in their proper 'prishtha' form, as they are at the Prishthya shadaha, and at a Visvagit-ekâha with all the Prishthas. See IV, 5, 4, 24. The authorities of the Black Yagus adopt a somewhat different arrangement. The Vâgapeya cups are likewise called by them Atigrâhyas (Taitt. S. I, 7, 22; T. B. I, 3, 9), and these are apparently drawn by them immediately after the second of the ordinary three Atigrâhyas, the one belonging to Indra (T. S. vol. i, p. 996,--but see ib. p. 1955, where it is stated that they are drawn immediately after the Âgrayana,--that is, probably, if the ordinary Atigrâhyas are not required). Then follows (the third ordinary Atigrâhya?), then the Shodasin, and thereupon the seventeen cups for Pragâpati.--Sâyana remarks on our passage,--teshâm (atigrâhyânâm) prakritigatâ tritvasamkhyaiva sâkhântaravat samkhyântarânupadesât. MS. I. O. 657.
6:3 For an explanation of these notions, see part ii, p. 260, notes 1 and 2.
8:1 See I, 5, 2, 17, where the principal formulas used in making oblations are computed as consisting together of seventeen syllables. Pañk. Br. 18, 6 insists especially on the symbolic identity of Pragâpati and the Vâgapeya on the double ground that the Vâgapeya consists of seventeen stotras, and has for its characteristic mode of chanting the Saptadasa-stoma, or seventeen-versed hymn. That this is indeed so will appear from a glance at the chief chants. The Bahishpavamâna-stotra, which in the ordinary Agnishtoma is chanted in the trivrit-stoma, consisting of three triplets, or nine verses (see part ii, p. 310), is at the Vâgapeya made to consist of seventeen verses, by the insertion of eight verses (S.V. II, 180-82; 186-90) between the second and third triplets. Again, the Mâdhyandina-pavamâna, ordinarily chanted in fifteen verses (part ii, p. 333), here consists of seventeen, viz. II, 105-7 (sung twice in two tunes = six verses); II, 663 (one verse); II, 663-4 (sung as triplet, in two tunes = six verses); II, 663, in a different tune again (one verse); II, 821-23 p. 9 (three verses)--making together seventeen verses. Similarly, the Ârbhava-pavamâna (chanted at the Agnishtoma also in the Saptadasa-stoma, cf. part ii, p. 315; but here with modifications) consists of II, 165-7 (sung twice in two tunes = six verses); II, 42, 44 (two verses); II, 47-9 (in two tunes = six verses); II, 720-22 (three verses)--making together seventeen verses. For the similarly constructed Vâgapeya hymn see page 11, note 1. See also Lâty. Sr. VIII, 11, 15 seq., where the number of officiating priests, as well as that of the various sacrificial fees, is fixed at seventeen. Similarly, Âsv. Sr. IX, 9, 2-3 says that there are either to be seventeen dikshâs, or the whole ceremony is to be performed in seventeen days.
9:1 According to Sâyana, the difference between surâ and parisrut would seem to be that the former beverage is prepared from mature shoots (of rice, &c.), and the latter from such as are not quite ripe.
10:1 The mounds (khara) thrown up in the havirdhâna cart-shed, are used for placing the cups of Soma (and Surâ) after they are drawn, until they are used for the libations. See the plan of the sacrificial ground at the end of part ii; only that on the present occasion there is to be a second mound, for the placing of the Surâ-cups, under or just behind the axle of the southern Soma-cart (in the place where the Nârâsamsa cups to the Fathers were temporarily deposited at the Agnishtoma; see III, 6, 2, 25 with note). On this occasion a small door is also made in the southern wall of the cart-shed, by breaking through the hurdle.
10:2 Part ii, p. 222 seq.
11:1 The last chant (at the evening feast) of the Vâgapeya sacrifice is the so-called Vâgapeya-sâman, or Brihat-stotra (Sâmav. II, 975-7), chanted, to the Brihat tune, in the Saptadasa-stoma; the three verses being, by repetitions, raised to the number of seventeen.--'When he has poured . . . they offer it:' this is apparently a case of the absolute construction of the gerund in '-ya,' cf. Delbrück, Altindische Syntax, p. 108.
11:2 On these cups, or libations, see V, I, 5, 28.

THIRD BRÂHMANA.

5:1:3:11. At the Agnishtoma (Sâman 3) he seizes a (victim) for Agni, for the Agnishtoma (i.e. 'Agni's
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praise 1) is Agni: he thereby wins Agni. For the Ukthas 2 he seizes one for Indra and Agni; for the hymns (uktha) relate to Indra and Agni 3: the hymns he thereby wins. For the Shodasi n he seizes one for Indra; for the Shodasin is Indra: the Shodasin (Indra) he thereby wins.
5:1:3:22. For the seventeenth (or seventeenfold) stotra 4 he seizes one for Sarasvatî: thereby, while there is no over-night performance 5, it is yet made like the night (performance); for he who offers the Vâgapeya
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wins Pragâpati, and Pragâpati is the year: by that (victim) for Sarasvatî he now wins the night: hence, while there is no night performance, it is made like the night.
5:1:3:33. Thereupon he seizes a spotted sterile cow for the Victorious Maruts; for the spotted sterile cow is this (earth): whatever food, rooted and rootless, is here established on her, thereby she is a spotted cow. Now, he who offers the Vâgapeya wins food, for vâga-peya 1 doubtless means the same as anna-peya (food and drink); and the Maruts are the peasants, and the peasants are food (for the noble). 'To the Victorious (Maruts)!' he says, even for the sake of victory. It is difficult to obtain an invitatory and offering prayer containing the word 'victorious:' if he should be unable to obtain such as contain the word 'victorious,' any other two verses to the Maruts will do. Difficult to obtain also is a spotted sterile cow: if he cannot obtain a spotted sterile cow, any other sterile cow will do.
5:1:3:44. The course of procedure thereof (is as follows). When the Hotri recites after the Mâhendra libation, then let them proceed with (the offering of) her omentum, for that, the Mâhendra 2, is Indra's special (nishkevalya) libation; and his also are the Nishkevalya-stotra and Nishkevalya-sastra. Now the sacrificer is Indra: thus he thereby puts strength into the sacrificer in the very middle (of the sacrifice):
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that is why they should proceed with her omentum at that particular time.
5:1:3:55. They cook the portions 1 in two lots. Of the one lot thereof, after making an 'under-layer' of ghee (clarified butter) in the guhû spoon, he makes two cuttings from each (portion), bastes them once, and replenishes with ghee (the empty places of) the cuttings. Thereupon he makes one cutting from each into the upabhrit spoon, bastes them twice, but does not replenish (the places of) the cuttings. Now, when of the one lot (of portions) he makes two cuttings from each, thereby that (sterile cow) becomes whole; and when he proceeds with those (portions), thereby he wins the divine race. He then presents the (other) half to the human kind: and thereby he wins the human kind (people, vis).
5:1:3:66. But let him not do it in this wise; for verily he who departs from the path of the sacrifice, stumbles; and he who does it in this wise certainly departs from the path of the sacrifice. Hence when they proceed with the omenta of the other victims, only then let them proceed with the omentum of that (cow). They cook the portions in one lot, and do not present any to the human kind.
5:1:3:77. He then seizes seventeen victims for Pragâpati. They are all hornless, all dark-grey 2, all (uncastrated) males; for he who offers the Vâgapeya, wins Pragâpati; but Pragâpati is food, and the victim (cattle) is food: he thus wins Pragâpati. And Pragâpati is Soma, and the victim is the visible
p. 15
[paragraph continues] Soma: he thus wins the visible Pragâpati. There are seventeen (victims), because Pragâpati is seventeenfold: he thus wins Pragâpati.
5:1:3:88. Now, they are all hornless;--for man is nearest to Pragâpati, and he is hornless, unhorned; and Pragâpati also is hornless, unhorned; and these (victims) belong to Pragâpati: therefore they are all hornless.
5:1:3:99. They are all dark-grey. Now, the dark-grey has two forms, the light hair and the black; and a couple means a productive pair, and Pragâpati (the lord of generation) represents productiveness, and those (victims) belong to Pragâpati: therefore they are all dark-grey.
5:1:3:1010. They are all males;--for the male means productiveness, and Pragâpati represents productiveness: hence they are all males. Difficult to obtain are victims with these perfections: if he cannot obtain them (all) with these perfections, even some with these perfections will do; for verily Pragâpati is everything here.
5:1:3:1111. Now, some seize the last (victim) for Vâk (Speech), thinking, 'If there be anything beyond Pragâpati, that is Speech: we thus win Speech.' But let him not do it in this wise; for Pragâpati is everything here,--these worlds and everything there is;--whatever speech speaks in these worlds, that speech he wins: therefore he need not heed this.
5:1:3:1212. The course of procedure regarding these (victims is as follows). When the Maitrâvaruna recites after the Vâmadevya 1, let them then proceed
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with their omenta; for the Vâmadevya means productiveness, and Pragâpati means productiveness, and these (victims) belong to Pragâpati: therefore let them proceed with their omenta at that time.
5:1:3:1313. And (when) the after-offerings have been performed, and the spoons have not yet been shifted (separated) 1, then they proceed with the (chief) oblations of those (victims). That (point in the performance) is the end, and Pragâpati is the end: thus he wins Pragâpati at the very end. But were he to proceed therewith sooner, it would be just as if a man had already gone the way he still intends to go,--and where would he be after that 2?--therefore
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they proceed with their (chief) oblations at that time.
5:1:3:1414. But let him not do it in this wise for he who departs from the path of the sacrifice stumbles; and he who does it in this wise certainly departs from the path of the sacrifice. Hence whenever they proceed with the omenta of the other victims, let them at the same time proceed with the omenta of these; and whenever they proceed with the (chief) oblations of the other victims, let them at the same time proceed with the oblations of these. There is but one invitatory prayer, and one offering prayer; for (these offerings) belong to one deity. He says (to the Maitrâvaruna), 'To Pragâpati'--saying this (name) in a low voice--'recite the invitatory prayer for the offering of the bucks!'--'To Pragâpati' saying this in a low voice--'urge the ready-standing offering of the bucks!' and as the Vashat is uttered, he makes the offering.

Footnotes

11:3 Of the seven fundamental forms (samsthâ) of Soma-sacrifice, each higher, or more complex, form is obtained by some additional ceremony, or ceremonies, being added on to one of the simpler forms of sacrifice. In the present paragraph, the author briefly reviews the lower forms of Soma-sacrifice, contained in the Vâgapeya, p. 12 with the view of enumerating the victims to be slaughtered at its performance; viz. the Agnishtoma with twelve chants and one victim; the Ukthya with fifteen stotras and two victims; and the Shodasin with sixteen chants and three victims. For further particulars, see part ii, p. 397, note 2.
12:1 The Agnishtoma-sâman, the last (twelfth) and distinctive stotra of the Agnishtoma sacrifice, is in praise of Agni (see part ii, p. 368, note 2). At the Vâgapeya the ordinary (yagñâyagñŷâ) hymn is not chanted, but S.V. II, 973-4, sung to the Vâravantîya tune (Calc. ed., vol. v, p. 144), takes its place. Pañk. Br. 18, 6, 16.
12:2 The three Uktha stotras (chants) and sastras (recitations) constitute the distinctive element of the Ukthya sacrifice; as the Shodasi-stotra and sastra (part ii, p. 401, note 3; p. 402, note i) constitute that of the Shodasin sacrifice.
12:3 On the important place assigned to these two deities in the traditional arrangement of the Rigveda-samhitâ, see the introduction to part i, p. xvi.
12:4 That is the Vâgapeya-sâman, see note 1, p. 11.
12:5 The author here alludes to another form of Soma-sacrifice, not contained in the Vâgapeya, viz. the Atirâtra, which is obtained by following up the Shodasin (with its sixteen chants) with the so-called râtri-paryâyah, or night-rounds, consisting of three rounds of four chants each, or together twelve chants. These are succeeded, at day-break, by the Sandhi-stotra (or twilight chants), consisting of three chants. Although this night performance does not take place on the present occasion--the Vâgapeya-sâman taking its place--the author claims for this form of sacrifice also the moral benefits which would accrue to the sacrificer from the Atirâtra, for the reason that the same victim (a be-goat for Sarasvatî) is offered on both occasions.
13:1 In Taitt. Br. I, 3, 2, 3, on the other hand, vâgapeya (which doubtless means 'drink of strength') is explained first by vâgâpya, 'that through which the gods wished to obtain (aipsan) strength (vâgam),' and then by 'drink of strength,' i.e. Soma 'by drinking (pîtvâ) which one becomes strong (vâgin).'
13:2 For this libation, and the accompanying Nishkevalya-sastra, at the midday Soma-feast, see part ii, pp. 338, 339, note 2.
14:1 For particulars regarding the meat portions, see part ii, p. 204 seq.
14:2 Or, black and white (sukla-krishna-varna), as 'syâma' is explained by Sâyana.
15:1 The Vâmadevya-sâman (Sâmav. II, 32-34) is the second Prishtha-stotra, after the chanting of which, at the midday feast, p. 16 the first assistant of the Hotri, the Maitrâvaruna, has to recite his (the second) Nishkevalya-sastra; see part ii, p. 325, note 2; p. 339, note 2.--As regards the Hotri's Prishtha-stotra, the Rathantara-sâman (S. V. II, 30, 31) is used for it; while the Abhîvarta tune (S. V. ed. Bibl. Ind. III, p. 93) is employed in the chanting of the Brahma-sâman (S. V. II, 35, 36; see part ii, p. 434, note I) instead of the ordinary Naudhasa tune. Pañk. Br. 18, 6, 11-14.
16:1 On this ceremony with which the concluding rites of the ishti commence, see I, 8, 3, 1 seq.
16:2 Or possibly, what would then become of him? The author's reasoning seems to be that, if the sacrificer were to offer any of the chief oblations at an earlier point in the performance, he would thereby anticipate the results he wants to obtain from the whole performance,--or, so to speak, he would then already reach the goal for the attainment of which the subsequent oblations are likewise intended. For the same reason the offering of the omentum of the sterile cow, previously to and independently of the omenta of the other victims, was discountenanced in paragraph 6. Our present passage is interpreted rather differently by Professor Delbrück in his Altindische Syntax, p. 550:--Wenn er vorher damit vorginge, so wäre das so, als ob er, nach Betretung des Pfades, den er zu betreten beabsichtigt, wo? ware (d. h. in’s Unglück geriethe): 'Were he to proceed therewith sooner, it would be just as if, after entering on the path he intends to enter upon, he would be where? (i.e. would get into trouble).'

FOURTH BRÂHMANA.

5:1:4:11. At the midday Soma-feast he consecrates (the Sacrificer) by sprinkling; and at the midday Soma-feast they run a race; for, verily, Pragâpati is that sacrifice 1 which is here performed, and from which these creatures have been produced,--and indeed, they are even now produced after this one: thus he thereby wins Pragâpati in the very centre (of the sacrifice).
5:1:4:22. The Mâhendra cup being not yet drawn,--for
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that, the Mâhendra, is Indra's special (nishkevalya) cup, and so also are his that Nishkevalya-stotra and Nishkevalya-sastra; and the Sacrificer is Indra: thus he consecrates him at his own dwelling-place. Hence, the Mâhendra cup being not yet drawn,--
5:1:4:33. He takes down the chariot 1, with (Vâg. S. IX, 5), 'Thou art Indra's thunderbolt;' for the chariot is indeed a thunderbolt, and the sacrificer is Indra: therefore he says, 'Thou art Indra's thunderbolt;'--'a winner of wealth,' for the chariot is indeed a winner of wealth;--'May this one win wealth by thee!'--wealth means food: 'may this one gain food by thee,' is what he thereby says.
5:1:4:44. That chariot, seized by the pole, he turns (from left to right) so as to make it stand inside the vedi 2, with, 'In the winning of wealth, the great Mother'--wealth means food: 'in the winning of food, the great Mother'--is what he thereby says;--'Aditi by name, we praise with speech;' now Aditi is this earth: therefore he says, 'Aditi by name, we praise with speech,'--'whereon all this being hath settled;' for indeed thereon all being here is settled;--'thereon may the divine Savitri prosper our stay!' whereby he means to say, 'thereon may the divine Savitri prosper our Sacrificer!'
5:1:4:55. He then sprinkles the horses with water, either when being led down to be watered, or when brought
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up after being watered. Now in the beginning the horse was produced from the water; while being produced from the water, it was produced incomplete, for it was indeed produced incomplete: hence it does not stand on all its feet, but it stands lifting one foot on each side. Thus what then was left behind of it in the water, therewith he now completes it, and makes it whole: therefore he sprinkles the horses with water, either when being led down to be watered, or when brought up after being watered.
5:1:4:66. He sprinkles them, with (Vâg. S. .IX, 6), 'Within the waters is ambrosia, in the waters is medicine: at the praises of the waters may ye wax strong, ye horses!' And with this also, 'O divine waters, what rushing, high-peaked, wealth-winning wave ye have, therewith may this one win wealth!' wealth is food: he thus says, 'May he thereby gain food!'
5:1:4:77. He then yokes (the team of) the chariot. The right horse he yokes (puts to) first; for in human (practice) they indeed put to the left horse first, but with the gods in this way.
5:1:4:88. He yokes it, with (Vâg. S. IX, 7), Either the wind, or thought--'for there is nothing swifter than the wind, and nothing swifter than thought:' therefore he says, 'Either the wind, or thought;--'(or) the seven and twenty Gandharvas 1,
p. 20
they yoked the horse at first;' for the Gandharvas indeed yoked the horse at first: 'May they who yoked the horse at first yoke thee!' this he thereby says they;--'laid speed into him,'--he thereby says, 'May they who laid speed into it, lay speed into thee!'
5:1:4:99. He then yokes the left horse, with (Vâg. S. IX, 8), 'Become thou swift as the wind, O courser, being yoked!'--thereby he says, 'Become quick as the wind, O courser, being yoked;'--'be thou as Indra's right (steed) in beauty!'--he thereby says, 'Even as Indra's right (steed) for beauty, so be thou that of the sacrificer for beauty!'--'May the all-knowing Maruts yoke thee!' he thereby says, 'may gods yoke thee!'--'May Tvashtri lay speed into thy feet!' in this there is nothing obscure. He then yokes the right side-horse; for in human (practice) they indeed yoke the left side-horse first, but with the gods in this way.
5:1:4:1010. He yokes it, with (Vâg. S. IX, 9), 'What speed hath been secretly laid into thee, O courser, and what (speed), bestowed on the eagle, went along in the wind;'--he thereby says, 'what speed of thine, O courser, is hidden away even elsewhere, therewith win this our sacrifice, Pragâpati!'--'with that strength be thou strong and wealth-winning for us, O courser, and victorious at the gathering!'--wealth means food: he thus means to say, 'And be thou a food-winner for us at this our
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sacrifice, at the gathering of the gods win thou this sacrifice, Pragâpati!'
5:1:4:1111. Now only those three (horses) are yoked, for what is threefold belongs to the gods, and this (sacrifice is) with the gods. Alongside the yoke (laid) on the side-horse 1 goes a fourth (horse), for that one is human. When he is about to give that (chariot to the Adhvaryu), he gives it after yoking the fourth (horse) thereto. Hence also at any other sacrifice only those three (horses) are yoked; for what is threefold belongs to the gods, and this (sacrifice is) with the gods. Alongside the yoke of the side-horse goes a fourth (horse), for that one is human. When he is about to give that (chariot) away, he gives it after yoking the fourth (horse) thereto.
5:1:4:1212. He now takes out material for a wild-rice pap of seventeen plates for Brihaspati; for he who offers the Vâgapeya wins food,--vâga-peya being doubtless the same as anna-peya (food and drink): thus whatever food he has thereby won, that he now prepares for him.
5:1:4:1313. And as to why it belongs to Brihaspati:--Brihaspati won it in the beginning, therefore it belongs to Brihaspati.
5:1:4:1414. And why it is prepared of wild rice:--Brihaspati is the Brahman (priesthood), and those wild-rice grains are cooked with the Brahman (prayer),--therefore it is of wild rice. It is one of seventeen plates,
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because Pragâpati is seventeenfold: he thus wins Pragâpati.
5:1:4:1515. He makes the horses smell it, with 'Ye coursers--;' for horses are coursers (vâgin): therefore he says, 'Ye coursers,'--'wealth-winners,'--wealth is food: 'food-winners' he thereby says;--'starting upon the course;' for they are about to run a race;--'smell ye Brihaspati's portion!' for this indeed is Brihaspati's portion: therefore he says, 'smell ye Brihaspati's portion!' And why he makes the horses smell it: he thinks, 'may I win Him 1!' therefore he makes the horses smell it.

Footnotes

17:1 In the original, 'pragâpatih' is the predicate, not the subject, of the sentence; but considerations of construction seem to render the change desirable in English.
18:1 The Adhvaryu takes it down from the vâhana, or car-stand.
18:2 It is to be placed in the north-eastern part of the vedi, so as to be ready to start on the race northwards along the space between the kâtvâla (or pit) and the utkara (heap of rubbish); the horses thus being close to where the Brahman will have to mount a cartwheel put up on the utkara (V, 1, 5, 2).
19:1 Professor Weber (in his essay on the Nakshatras, II, 278; Abhandl. of Berlin Academy, 1861) takes this passage (--Taitt. S. 1, 7, 7, 2; Kâthaka 13, 14; Maitr. S. I, 11, 1) to contain the first allusion to the system of Nakshatras, or lunar mansions marking the daily stations occupied by the moon (masc.) during his circuit round the heavens.--In the ritual of the Black Yagus (Taitt. S. 1, 7, 7, 2) p. 20 this formula runs thus: 'Either Vâyu, or Manu, or the Gandharvas, the twenty-seven, harnessed the horse at first, laid speed into him,'--which Sâyana, however, interprets as meaning, 'Vâyu, and Manu, and the (twenty-five) Gandharvas,--these seven and twenty. &c.'
21:1 Or, of the leader, as would appear from Sâyana to Taitt. S. I, 7, 8 (p. 1024),--'Between the right-hand and the left-hand horse he allows the shafts to project, and between them he puts the horse called "sapti" (in the text)' No fourth horse is, however, apparently mentioned in the ritual of the Black Yagus.
22:1 That is, Brihaspati; unless 'lokam' has to be supplied to 'imam' ('this world'), as might appear probable from the next paragraph. See also V. 1, 5, 27-28.

FIFTH BRÂHMANA.

5:1:5:11. Now when they run a race, he thereby wins this same (terrestrial) world. And when the Brahman sings a Sâman on the cart-wheel set up on (a post) reaching to his navel, he thereby wins the air-world. And when he erects the sacrificial post, he thereby wins the world of the gods. Hence that threefold performance.
5:1:5:22. The Brahman mounts a cart-wheel, set up on (a post) as high as his navel 2, with (Vâg. S. IX, 10),
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[paragraph continues] 'At the impulse (sava) of the god Savitri, of true impulsion, may I ascend unto the highest heaven of Brihaspati!' thus, if a Brâhmana sacrifices; for Brihaspati is the Brahman (priesthood, or sanctity), and the Brâhmana is the Brahman.
5:1:5:33. And if a Râganya sacrifices, (he does so) with, 'At the impulse of the divine Savitri, of true impulsion, may I ascend unto the highest heaven of Indra!' for Indra is the Kshatra (nobility, or power), and the Râganya is the Kshatra.
5:1:5:44. Thrice he sings the Sâman 1. Having thrice sung it, he descends with, 'At the impulse of the divine Savitri, of true impulsion, I have ascended unto the highest heaven of Brihaspati!'--thus, if a Brâhmana sacrifices, for Brihaspati is the Brahman, and the Brâhmana is the Brahman.
5:1:5:55. And if a Râganya sacrifices,--with, 'At the impulse of the divine Savitri, of true impulsion, I have ascended unto the highest heaven of Indra!' for Indra is the Kshatra, and the Râganya is the Kshatra.
5:1:5:66. They put up seventeen drums along the edge of the altar, from the Âgnîdhra backwards (towards
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the west); for he who offers the Vâgapeya wins Pragâpati; but Pragâpati is speech, and that doubtless is the supreme speech which is (the outcome) of seventeen drums: he thus wins the supreme speech, the supreme Pragâpati. Seventeen there are, because Pragâpati is seventeenfold: he thus wins Pragâpati.
5:1:5:77. One of these drums he (the Brahman) beats (while praying) with a sacrificial formula: thereby all of them become beaten with a sacrificial formula.
5:1:5:88. He beats it with (Vâg. S. IX, 11), 'O Brihaspati, win the race! lift ye up your voice unto Brihaspati: make ye Brihaspati win the race!' thus, if a Brâhmana sacrifices; for Brihaspati is the Brahman, and the Brâhmana is the Brahman.
5:1:5:99. And if a Râganya sacrifices, (he does so) with, 'O Indra, win the race! lift ye up your voice unto Indra: make ye Indra win the race!' for Indra is the Kshatra, and the Râganya is the Kshatra.
5:1:5:1010. And when those race-running chariots 1 have come up again, he takes down one of those drums with a sacrificial formula; whereby they all become taken down with a formula.
5:1:5:1111. He takes it down, with (Vâg. S. I X, 12), 'This hath been your true concord whereby ye (drums) have caused Brihaspati to win the race;--Brihaspati ye have caused to win the race: be released, ye wood-lords!' thus, if a Brâhmana
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sacrifices; for Brihaspati is the Brahman, and the Brâhmana is the Brahman.
5:1:5:1212. And if a Râganya sacrifices, with, 'This hath been your true concord whereby ye have caused Indra to twin the race;--Indra ye have caused to win the race: be released, ye wood-lords!' for Indra is the Kshatra, and the Râganya is the Kshatra.
5:1:5:1313. A Râganya then 1 shoots seventeen arrow's ranges northwards from the edge of the altar; for as much as is one arrow's range, so much is Pragâpati crosswise; and as much as are seventeen arrow's ranges, so much is Pragâpati lengthwise.
5:1:5:1414. And as to why a Râganya shoots,--he, the Râganya is most manifestly of Pragâpati (the lord of creatures): hence, while being one, he rules over many; and because 'pragâpati' has four syllables, and 'râganya 2' also has four syllables, therefore a Râganya shoots. He shoots seventeen arrow's ranges, because Pragâpati is seventeenfold: he thereby wins Pragâpati.
5:1:5:1515. And whichever (horse) he yokes with a formula, up to that the Sacrificer now steps 3, with (Vâg. S. IX, 13), 'At the impulse of the divine Savitri,
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of true impulsion, may I win the race of the race-winning Brihaspati!'
5:1:5:1616. And even as then Brihaspati hasted up to Savitri for his impulsion,--Savitri being the impeller among the gods--saying, 'Impel this for me: impelled by thee, may I win this!' and Savitri, as the impeller, impelled it for him, and impelled by Savitri, he won; in like manner does he thereby haste up to Savitri for his impulsion,--Savitri being the impeller among the gods,--saying, 'Impel this for me: impelled by thee, may I win!' and Savitri, as the impeller, impels it for him, and impelled by Savitri he wins.
5:1:5:1717. And if a pupil of the Adhvaryu's or some (other) theological student were to know that prayer, stepping up he makes (the Sacrificer) say, 'O coursers!'--for horses are indeed coursers: therefore he says, 'O coursers'--'wealth-winners!' for wealth is food: 'food-winners' he thereby says;--'keeping the roads,' for they indeed run keeping (within) the roads;--'measuring the stages;' for measuring the stages they run over the course;--'go ye to the winning-post!' In order that the evil-doers, the Rakshas, may not hurt them midways, he thus says this.--They run the race, they beat the drums, and he (the Brahman) sings the Sâman.
5:1:5:1818. He (the Adhvaryu) then 1 either offers or addresses (the horses) with those two gagatî-verses: whether he offers, or whether he addresses (the
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horses), the significance (of the performance) is the same.
5:1:5:1919. He offers, with (Vâg. S. IX, 14; Rik S. IV, 40, 4), 'That courser speedeth after the whip, fettered at the neck and shoulder and mouth: may Dadhikrâ win according to his power; may he run along the windings of the roads, hail!'
5:1:5:2020. [Vâg. S. IX, 15; Rik S. IV, 40, 3], 'And of him, the running, speeding, there fanneth like the wing of the eager bird,--as of the gliding eagle,--about the breast of Dadhikrâvan passing along with might, hail!'
5:1:5:2121. He then either offers or addresses (the horses) with the following tristich: this is twofold, because he either offers or addresses. Whether he offers, or addresses (the horses), the significance is the same: he thereby speeds those running horses, imbues them with energy. There are here three earths, namely this one, and two beyond it: these he thereby wins.
5:1:5:2222. He addresses (the horses, with Vâg. S. IX, 16; Rik S. VII, 38, 7), 'Auspicious be the coursers unto us at the invocations in the divine service, running their measured course, with beautiful song; swallowing the dragon, the wolf, the evil spirits: may they ever keep away from us affliction!'
5:1:5:2323. [Vâg. S. IX, 17; Rik S. X, 64, 6], 'Those racers, wont to hear the calls, may they all hear our call, the coursers running their measured course: they, the winners of thousands, eager to win at the winning of oblations, who have carried off great gain in the contests.'
5:1:5:2424. [Vâg. S. IX, 18; Rik S. VII, 38, 8], 'In
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every race, help us, ye racers, at the prizes, ye wise, immortal knowers of the divine law: drink of this mead, be gladdened, and satisfied walk ye on the paths trodden by the gods!'
5:1:5:2525. He then 1 steps over against (the horses) with the Bârhaspatya pap, and touches it; for he who offers the Vâgapeya wins food, since 'vâga-peya' is the same as 'anna-peya:' whatever food he has thus gained that he now, having reached that goal, brings in contact with himself, puts within himself.
5:1:5:2626. He touches it, with (Vâg. S. IX, 19), 'May gain of wealth come to me!' wealth means food: he thus says, 'May gain of food come (accrue) to me;'--'May these two, Heaven and Earth, the all-shaped, come to me!' for Pragâpati is Heaven and Earth;--'May father and mother come to me!' for Pragâpati is both father and mother;--'May Soma come to me with immortality!' for Pragâpati is Soma.
5:1:5:2727. He makes the horses smell it, with, 'Ye coursers!' for horses are coursers: therefore he says, 'Ye coursers! wealth-winners!' wealth is food: 'food-winners' he thereby says;--'having run the course--' for 'starting (upon the course)' he said before, as then they were indeed starting; but now he says, 'having run,' for they indeed have run (the race): therefore he says, 'having run;'--'smell ye Brihaspati's portion--' for this is Brihaspati's portion: therefore he says, 'Smell ye Brihaspati's portion;'--'taking (it) in!' whereby. he imbues the Sacrificer with energy. And as to why
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he makes the horses smell,--he made them smell before, thinking, 'May I win this (world);' and now (he does so) thinking, 'I have won this (world) that is why he makes the horses smell.
5:1:5:2828. Now on one of those race-running (rival) chariots there has been standing either a Vaisya, or a Râganya; he now sits down on the northern hip of the altar. Thereupon the Adhvaryu and Sacrificer, taking the honey-cup, step out by the front, door (of the cart-shed), and place it in the Vaisya's, or Râganya's, hand. And the Neshtri, taking the cups of Surâ, steps out by the back door. He walks round by the back of the hall, and placing one (of the cups) in the Vaisya's, or Râganya's, hand, he says, 'With this I buy Him of thee!' For the Soma is truth, prosperity, light; and the Surâ is untruth, misery, darkness: he thus imbues the Sacrificer with truth, prosperity, and light; and smites the Vaisya with untruth, misery, and darkness;--whatever benefit (or enjoyment) he desires, he obtains for himself by those (cups of Surâ). But that cup of honey he presents to the Brahman, together with the golden vessel. In presenting it to the Brahman, he imbues himself with immortal life; for gold is immortal life;--and whatsoever benefit he desires that he thereby obtains for himself.

Footnotes

22:2 According to the Taittirîya ritualists, as quoted by Sâyana (Taitt. S. I, 7, 8), the wheel after being mounted by the Brahman is to be turned round thrice in a sunwise motion;--the (pointed) end of the post being apparently inserted in the navel of the wheel, lying horizontally upon it. The turning wheel is there compared with the Vagra, or disk-shaped thunderbolt. While the wheel is turning round its axle, the Brahman sings the Sâman. Cf. also Lâty. Sr. V, 12, 9 seq., according to which authority, however, the Brahman p. 23 would seem only to put his arms on the wheel, and turn it round, while singing.
23:1 Viz. the 'vâginâm sâman' (Tândy. Br. 18; 7, 12), Sâmav. I, 435 'àvir maryâ â vâgam vâgino agman,' &c. 'The fiery steeds have gathered fiery mettle, the impulse of the god Savitri; win ye the heaven, O coursers!' Lâty. Sr. V, 12, 14. This singing of the Sâman takes place while the race lasts, the Brahman remaining all the time on the cart-wheel put up on a short post on (or near) the utkara, or heap of rubbish.--The author then anticipates in this and the next two paragraphs what the Brahman is to do when he descends from the wheel after the race is over. The placing of the drums next referred to must also be imagined as taking place whilst the Brahman is mounting the wheel.
24:1 Besides the Sacrificer's chariot inside the vedi, sixteen others, each drawn by four horses, have been got ready, outside the vedi, for the race to the udumbara branch, as its goal and turning-point. In paragraphs 10-12 the author again anticipates what is to be done with the drums after the race has taken place, just in order to deal with that item of the ceremonial as a whole.
25:1 That is, after (or at the same time when) the drums are put up. He is to shoot northwards through the space between the utkara and kâtvâla. At the end of the seventeenth arrow's range he plants an udumbara branch in the ground to serve as the goal round which the chariots are to turn sunwise on their way back to the sacrificial ground.
25:2 Pronounce 'râ-ga-ní-a.'
25:3 In the Taittirîya ritual (Taitt. S. I, 7, 7, 2; Taitt. Br. I, 3, 5, 4) the Sacrificer steps up to the chariot with the three Vishnu-strides, with appropriate formulas.
26:1 That is, he does so whilst the cars are running; the offering or prayers being intended to make the Sacrificer's car win the race.
28:1 That is, after the cars have come back, that of the Sacrificer keeping ahead of the others.

(My humble salutations to the translator Sreeman Julius Eggeling for the collection)