Kanda X, adhyaya 4, brahmana 1

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

1. When the gods restored the relaxed Prajāpati, they poured him, as seed, into the fire-pan (ukhā) as the womb, for the fire-pan is a womb. In the course of a year they prepared for him this food, to wit, the fire-altar built here, and enclosed it in a body; and, being enclosed in a body, it became the body itself; whence food, when enclosed in a body, becomes the body itself.

2. In like manner does the Sacrificer now pour his own self (or body), as seed, into the fire-pan as the womb, for the fire-pan is a womb. In the course of a year he prepares for it (his self) this food, to wit, the fire-altar here built, and encloses it in a body, and, being enclosed in a body, it becomes the body itself; whence food, when enclosed in a body, becomes the body itself.

3. He places him (the Ukhya Agni, on the fire-altar) with 'Vauṣaṭ^[1]!' for 'vauk' is he (Agni), and 'ṣaṭ (six)' is this six-layered food: having prepared it, he offers it to him as proportionate to this body, for food which is proportionate to the body satisfies, and does not injure it; but when there is too much, it does injure it, and when there is too little, it does not satisfy it.

4. Now that Arka 1 (flame) is this very fire which they bring here; and the Kya^[2] is this his food, to wit, the fire-altar built here: that (combined) makes the Arkya^[3] in respect of the Yajus. And the Great one (mahān) is this (Agni), and this vrata^[4] (rite) is his food: that makes the Mahāvrata (sāman) in respect of the Sāman. And 'uk' is this (Agni), and 'tha' his food,--that (combined) makes the Uktha (śastra, recitation)^[5] in respect of the Ṛk. Thus, whilst being only one, this is accounted threefold.

5. Now Indra and Agni were created as the Brahman (priesthood) and the Kṣatra (nobility): the Brahman was Agni and the Kṣatra Indra. When created, the two were separate. They spake, 'Whilst being thus, we shall be unable to produce creatures (people): let us both become one form!' The two became one form.

6. Now those two, Indra and Agni, are the same as these two, to wit, the gold plate and the (gold) man^[6]: Indra is the gold plate, and Agni the man.

They are made of gold: gold means light, and Indra and Agni are the light; gold means immortal life, and Indra and Agni mean immortal life.

7. It is these two, Indra and Agni, that they build up. Whatever is of brick that is Agni: whence they bake that (part) by fire, and all that is baked by fire is Agni. And what filling of earth there is (in the altar) that. is Indra: whence they do not bake that (part) by fire, lest it should be Agni, and not Indra. Thus it is these two, Indra and Agni, that are built up.

8. And the two become that one form, to wit, the fire which is placed on the built (altar), and hence those two, by means of that form, produce creatures. Now Agni, indeed, is this single brick^[7], and into this the whole Agni passes: this, indeed, is the perfection of bricks,--it is that one syllable (akṣara) 'vauk,' it is this into which the whole Agni passes, and which is the perfection of syllables.

9. It is this that the Ṛṣi saw when he said, 'I praise what hath been and what will be, the Great Brahman, the one Akṣara,--the manifold Brahman, the one Akṣara; for, indeed, all the gods, all beings pass into that Akṣara (imperishable element^[8]): it is both the Brahman and the Kṣatra; and the Brahman is Agni, and the Kṣatra Indra; and the Viśve Devāḥ (all the gods) are Indra and Agni.' But the Viśve Devāḥ (the All-gods) are also the peasantry: hence it is Priesthood, Nobility, and Peasantry.

10. And, indeed, Śyāparṇa Sāyakāyana, knowing this, once said, 'If this my sacrificial performance were complete, my own race would become the kings (nobles), Brāhmaṇas, and peasants of the Salvas; but even by that much of my work which has been completed^[9] my race will surpass the Salvas in both ways;'--for this (Agni, the fire-altar), indeed, is (social) eminence and fame, and an eater of food^[10].

11. And regarding this, Sāṇḍilya, having instructed Vāmakakṣāyaṇa^[11], said, 'Thou wilt become eminent, famous, and an eater of food (rich);' and, indeed, he who knows this becomes eminent, famous, and an eater of food.

12. And this Agni is no other than Prajāpati.

The gods, having restored this Agni-Prajāpati, in the course of a year prepared this food for him, to wit, this Mahāvratīya cup of Soma.

13. The Adhvaryu draws it by means of a cup, and inasmuch as he draws (grah) it, it is (called) a draught (graha, cup of Soma). The Udgātṛ (chanter), by the Mahāvrata (sāman), puts flavour (vital sap) into it; and the Mahāvrata (sāman) being (composed of) all those (five) sāmans, he thus puts flavour into it by means of all sāmans (hymn-tunes). The Hotṛ puts flavour into it by means of the Great Recitation; and the Great Recitation being (composed of) all those Ṛk-verses: he thus puts flavour into it by all the Ṛk-verses.

14. And when they chant the hymn, and he (the Hotṛ) afterwards recites (the śastra)^[12], he (the Adhvaryu) offers that (cup of Soma) to him (Agni-Prajāpati) as the Vaṣaṭ-call is uttered. Now 'vauk' is this (Agni), and 'ṣaṭ' this sixfold food^[13]: having prepared it, he offers it to him as proportionate to his body; for food which is proportionate to the body satisfies, and does not injure it; but when there is too much, it does injure it, and when there is too little, it does not satisfy it.

15. Now that Arka (flame) is this very fire-altar built here; and the Kya is this his food, to wit, the Mahāvratīya-graha: that (combined) makes the Arkya in respect of the Yajus. And the Great one (mahān) is this (Agni), and this rite (vrata) is his food: that makes the Mahāvrata in respect of the Sāman. And 'uk' is this (Agni), and 'tha' his food: that makes the (Mahad) Uktha in respect of the Ṛk. Thus, whilst being only one, this is accounted threefold.

16. And this Agni is Prajāpati, the year^[14]: the Sāvitra (oblations) are one half thereof, and the Vaiśva-karmaṇa (oblations)^[15] the (other) half; the Sāvitra are eight digits (kalā^[16]) thereof, and the Vaiśvakarmaṇa (the other) eight; and that which is performed between them is the seventeenfold Prajāpati. Now what a digit is to men that a syllable (akṣara) is to the gods.

17. And 'loma (hair)' is two syllables, 'tvak^[17] (skin)' two, 'asṛk (blood)' two, 'medas (fat)' two, 'māṃsam (flesh)' two, 'snāva (sinew)' two, 'asthi (bone)' two, 'majjā (marrow)^[18]' two,--that makes sixteen digits; and the vital air which circulates therein, is the seventeenfold Prajāpati.

18. These sixteen digits convey the food to that vital air; and when they take to conveying no food to it, then it consumes them and departs (from the body): hence he who is hungry here, feels very restless, consumed as he is by his vital airs; and hence he who suffers from fever becomes very thin, for he is consumed by his vital airs.

19. Now for that seventeenfold Prajāpati they prepared this seventeenfold food, the Soma-sacrifice: those sixteen digits of his are these sixteen officiating priests,--one should not, therefore, take a seventeenth priest^[19] lest one should do what is excessive;--and what vital sap there is here--the oblations that are offered--that is the seventeenfold food.

20. And when they chant the hymn, and when he (the Hotṛ) afterwards recites (the śastra), he (the Adhvaryu) offers to him that food as the Vaṣaṭ-call is uttered. Now 'vauk' is this (Agni), and 'ṣaṭ' this sixfold food: having prepared it, he offers it to him as proportionate to his body; for food which is proportionate to the body satisfies, and does not injure it; but when there is too much it does injure it, and when there is too little, it does not satisfy it.

21. Now that Arka (flame) is this very fire-altar built here; and the Kya is this his food, to wit, the Soma-sacrifice: that (combined) makes the Arkya in respect of the Yajus. And the Great one (mahān) is this (Agni), and this rite (vrata) is his food: that makes the Mahāvrata in respect of the Sāman. And 'uk' is this (Agni), and 'tha' his food: that makes the (Mahad) Uktha in respect of the Ṛk. Thus, whilst being only one, this is accounted threefold. With this food he went upwards; and he who went upwards is yonder sun, and that food wherewith he went up is that moon.

22. He who shines yonder is indeed that Arka (flame), and that moon is his food, the Kya: that (combined) makes the Arkya in respect of the Yajus. And the Great one (mahān) is this (Agni), and this rite (vrata) is his food: that makes the Mahāvrata in respect of the Sāman. And 'uk' is this (Agni), and 'tha' his food: that makes the (Mahad) Uktha in respect of the Ṛk. Thus, whilst being only one, this is accounted threefold. Thus much as to the deity.

23. Now as to the body. The Arka (flame), doubtless, is the breath (vital air), and the Kya is its food: that makes the Arkya in respect of the Yajus. And the Great one (mahān) is this (Agni), and this rite (vrata) is his food: that makes the Mahāvrata in respect of the Sāman. And 'uk' is this (Agni), and 'tha' his food: that makes the (Mahad) Uktha in respect of the Ṛk. Thus, whilst being only one, this is accounted threefold. And, indeed, that (Agni) is that (sun) as to the deity, and this (breath) as to the body.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

See IX, 2, 3, 35, where it was stated that the fire should be laid down with the Vaṣaṭ-call ('vauṣaṭ!') uttered after the two verses, Vāj. S. XVII, 72. 73. Here, as at I, 7, 2, 21, the sacrificial call, 'vauṣaṭ'--for 'vaṣaṭ,' apparently an irregular subjunctive aorist of 'vah': 'may he bear (the oblation to the gods)!'--is fancifully explained as composed of 'vauk' (i.e. vāk, speech), and 'ṣaṭ,' six.

[2]:

See X, 3, 4, 2 seq.

[3]:

That is, what relates to the Arka (the Fire, or Agnicayana).

[4]:

That is, here, the Mahad uktham, or Great Recitation of the Mahāvrata day.

[5]:

Perhaps with the implied sense of 'fast-food,' 'fast-milk,' the milk taken by the Sacrificer during the initiation as his only food.

[6]:

For the gold plate worn by the Sacrificer whilst carrying about p. 343 the Ukhya Agni, and ultimately deposited on the lotus-leaf in the centre of the altar-site before the first layer is laid down, see VI, 7, I, 1 seq.; VII, 4, 1, 10 seq. For the gold man placed on the gold plate, VII, 4, 1, 15 seq. Whilst the gold man was indeed identified with Agni-Prajāpati, as well as with the Sacrificer, the gold plate was taken throughout as representing the sun.

[7]:

According to Sāyaṇa, this one brick is the syllable ('akṣara,' which also means 'the imperishable, indestructible') 'vauk' contained in the 'Vauṣaṭ,' uttered when the sacred fire is placed on the newly-built altar.

[8]:

Akṣaram avinaśvaraṃ sarvagataṃ vā brahma saccidānandaikarasam. Sāyaṇa.

[9]:

Or, perhaps--but since so much of my work has been completed, my race will thereby surpass the Salvas. Cf. Delbrück, Altind. Syntax, p. 266.

[10]:

Sāyaṇa takes this as intended to explain the 'in both' ways' of the quotation, viz. in regard to 'śrī' (social distinction) on the one hand, and to 'yaśas' (fame) and food (material prosperity) on the other. There is, however, nothing in the text to favour any such grouping of the distinctive objects of aspiration associated with the three classes (varṇatrayātmakatvam upajivya karmaṇaḥ, śrīyaśo'nnādalakṣaṇaṃ phalam. Sāyaṇa), or with men generally (cf. Aitareyār. I, 4, 2, 10). Perhaps it means both in an intellectual and material point of view. The Syāparṇas seem to have been a rather self-assertive family of priests. The Aitareya Brāhmaṇa tells the following story about them (VII, 27):--Viśvantara Sauṣadmana, setting aside the Śyāparṇas, got up a sacrifice without them. The Syāparṇas, becoming aware of this, came to the sacrifice and sat them down inside the sacrificial ground. On seeing them, Viśvantara said, 'There sit those doers of evil deeds, those speakers of foul language, the Syāparṇas: turn them out let them not sit inside my sacrificial ground!'--'So be it!' they said, and p. 345 turned them out. In being turned out, they cried aloud, 'At a sacrifice of Janamejaya, son of Parikṣit, performed without the Kaśyapas, the Asitamṛgas from amongst the Kaśyapas won the Soma-drink from the Bhūtavīras (who were officiating). In them they had heroic men on their side: what hero is there amongst us who will win that Soma-drink?'--'Here is that hero of yours,' said Rāma Mārgaveya. Rāma Mārgaveya was a Śyāparṇīya, learned in sacred lore. When they rose to leave, he said, 'O king, will they turn out of the sacrificial ground even one so learned as me?'--'Whoever thou art, what knowest thou, vile Brāhman?'--'When the gods turned Indra away because he had outraged Tvaṣṭṛ's son Viśvarūpa, and laid low Vṛtra, and thrown devotees before the jackals, and slain the Arurmaghas, and retorted on Bṛhaspati (the teacher of the gods)--then Indra was deprived of the Soma-cup; and along with him the Kṣatriyas were deprived of the Soma-cup. By stealing the Soma from Tvaṣṭṛ, Indra obtained a share in the Soma-cup, but to this day the Kṣatriyas are deprived of the Soma-cup: how can they turn out from the sacrificial ground one who knows how the Kṣatriya race can be put in possession of the Soma-cup from which they are deprived?'--'Knowest thou (how to procure) that drink, O Brāhman?'--'I know it indeed.'--'Tell us then, O Brahman?'--'To thee, O king, I will tell it,' he said. Ultimately the Śyāparṇas are reinstated in their sacrificial duties. Cf. R. Roth, Zur Litteratur and Geschichte des Weda, p. 118. At VI, 2, I, 39, Syāparṇa Sāyakāyana was stated to have been the last who was in the habit of immolating five victims instead of two, as became afterwards the custom.

[11]:

In the succession of teachers of the doctrine of the fire-altar, given at the end of the present Kāṇḍa, Vāmakakṣāyaṇa is said to have received his instruction from Vātsya, and the latter from Śāṇḍilya, who, in his turn, received it from Kuśri. Cf. Weber, Ind. Stud. I, p. 259.

[12]:

Viz. the Mahad uktham (see p. 110, note 3), preceded by the chanting of the Mahāvrata-sāman (see p. 362, note 5) (p. 382 originally--JBH).

[13]:

That is, according as it is flavoured by the six different 'rasas' (flavours or tastes)--sweet (madhura), sour (amla), salt (lavaṇa), pungent (kaṭuka), bitter (tikta), and astringent (kaṣāya). Thus according to Sāyaṇa; but see also paragraph 3, where the sixfold nature of the food is identified with the six-layered altar. Perhaps both explanations are intended to apply.

[14]:

Or, perhaps, this Prajāpati-Agni is the year.

[15]:

For these two sets of formulas and oblations, see IX, 5, 1, 43 and note.

[16]:

A 'kalā' is the sixteenth part of the moon's diameter, and then a sixteenth part generally.

[17]:

Pronounce 'tu-ak.'

[18]:

For five of these parts of the body, see X, 1, 3, 4.

[19]:

This prohibition is probably directed against the Kauṣītakins, who recognise a seventeenth officiating priest, the Sadasya, who seems to have taken no other part in the sacrificial performance except sitting in the Sadas as the permanent custodian thereof.