Kanda XII, adhyaya 9, brahmana 3

1. Now, Duṣṭarītu Pauṃsāyana had been expelled from the kingdom which had come down to him through ten generations; and the Sṛñjayas also expelled Revottaras Pāṭava Kākra Sthapati.

2. He said to Duṣṭarītu Pauṃsāyana, 'I will perform the Sautrāmaṇī for thee, and will comer upon thee that dominion over the Sṛñjayas.'--'So be it!' he replied. So he performed it for him.

3. Now Balhika Prātipīya, the Kauravya king, heard (people say) this--'There is that Duṣṭarītu Pauṃsāyana who has been expelled from the kingdom which has come down to him through ten generations: for him that Cākra Sthapati wants to perform the Sautrāmaṇī and to confer upon him the dominion over the Sṛñjayas.'

4. He said, 'I will just tell him that if he wants to confer dominion upon him, he will indeed exclude him from dominion.' He came to him at that particular time (of the sacrifice) when the cups (of milk and liquor) are drawn.

5. He said, 'Sthapati Cākra, they say, Surā-liquor must not be offered in the Āhavanīya-fire, nor anywhere else than in the Āhavanīya: if thou offerest

Surā-liquor in the Āhavanīya thou wilt cause social confusion and a repetition in the sacrifice^[1], and if anywhere else than in the Āhavanīya thou wilt exclude him (the king) from dominion, and wilt neither place him in dominion, nor confer dominion upon him.'

6. He replied, 'I shall not offer Surā-liquor in the Āhavanīya nor anywhere else than in the Āhavanīya thus I shall not cause social confusion nor a repetition in the sacrifice, and shall not exclude him from dominion; I shall place him in dominion, and shall confer dominion upon him.'

7. He said, 'How, then, wilt thou do it?' He then told him this:--At first, indeed, that Yajña (sacrifice, m.), the Sautrāmaṇī, was with the Asuras. He went forth towards the gods. He came to the waters, and the waters welcomed him, whence people welcome a better man when he comes to them. They said to him, 'We pray thee, come, reverend sir!'

8. He said, 'Nay, I am afraid: lead ye me forward!'--'Whereof art thou afraid, reverend sir?' they asked.--'Of the Asuras,' he said.--'Be it, then!' they said. The waters led him forward, whence he who is the protector leads forward him who is afraid; and inasmuch as the waters led him forward (pra-ṇī) therefore the waters (themselves) are 'led forward:' this is the reason why they are (called) Praṇītāḥ^[2]; and, verily, firmly established is he who thus knows that nature of the Praṇītāḥ.

9. Now, the fore-offerings had been performed, but the fire had not been carried round^[3] (the oblations), when the Asuras came after him. By means of the circumambient fire the gods shut out their hostile rivals, the Asuras, from Yajña (the sacrifice); and in like manner does this one now, by means of the circumambient fire, shut out his spiteful enemy from the sacrifice.

10. Verily, that Āhavanīya is the womb (seat) of the gods, and those two fires^[4] on either side thereof are its immortal wings: thus, when they perform the sacrifice on the Āhavanīya, they indeed perform the sacrifice for the gods in the womb of the gods; and, verily, the continued sacrifice inclines to him, and the sacrifice is not cut off from him who thus knows this, or for whom, knowing this, this sacrificial rite is performed.

11. On the northern fire they offer (libations from) the cups of milk, on the northern fire they cook the sacrificial animals: the sacrificial animals, whilst being mortal, he thus places in the immortal womb, and them that are mortal he causes to be born (again) from out of the immortal womb; and, verily, whosoever thus knows this, or he for whom, knowing this, this sacrificial rite is performed, wards off the recurring death of his cattle, and the sacrifice is not cut off from him.

12. On the southern fire they offer (libations from) the cups of Surā-liquor, near the southern fire they purify (the liquor) with triple strainers: the Fathers, whilst being mortal, he thus places in the immortal womb, and them that are mortal he causes to be born (again) from out of the immortal womb; and, verily, whosoever thus knows this, or he for whom, knowing this, this sacrificial rite is performed, wards off the recurring death of the Fathers, and the sacrifice is not cut off from him.

13. Now, inasmuch as these two fires are taken from the Āhavanīya, they are Āhavanīyas (offering-fires), and inasmuch as they do not again reach the Āhavanīya, they are not Āhavanīyas: he thereby obtains both kinds of oblations, that -which is (offered) on the Āhavanīya, and that which is (offered) on what is not an Āhavanīya--both what is offered and what is not offered.

He (Balhika Prātipīya) then went home, and said, 'It is not so (as we had thought): that kingdom of the Sṛñjayas now belongs to Duṣṭarītu;--in. such and such a manner has that Cākra Sthapati this day performed at the sacrifice.'

14. On the northern fire they thus perform the rites of the sacrificial animals, the (animal) cakes, and ṭhe cups of milk, and what other (rite) there is: it is the gods, in the world of the gods, he thereby gratifies, and, thus gratified, they gratify him, and he wins the world of the gods.

15. In the southern fire they offer (libations from) the cups of Surā-liquor, near the southern fire they purify (the liquor) with triple strainers: it is the Fathers, in the world of the Fathers, he thereby gratifies, and, thus gratified, they gratify him, and he wins the world of the Fathers.

16. Verily, the Sautrāmaṇī is the same as the body, whence it is (clearly) defined, for defined is the body. And (Indra) Vayodhas (the bestower of strength), is the world, whence he is undefined^[5], for undefined is the world. The Sautrāmaṇī is the body (trunk), and the Aindra (victim) and (the one to) Vayodhas^[6] are the two arms; and inasmuch as there are those two animal offerings on both sides (of the Sautrāmaṇī), therefore these two arms are on both sides of the body. And as the sacrificial animal, so the sacrificial stake; and inasmuch as there are those two stakes on both sides of the stake of the Sautrāmaṇī (bull of Indra), therefore these two arms are on both sides of the body^[7].

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Probably inasmuch as the cups of milk are offered there previously.

[2]:

For this jarful of consecrated water, used at the sacrifice, see part i, pp. 9, note; 265.

[3]:

On the ceremony called 'paryagnikaraṇam,' see part i, p. 145, note; part ii, p. 187, note.

[4]:

See p. 225, note 1. Properly speaking, the two fires of the two special Vedis are in front (or, rather, north-east and south-east) of the Āhavanīya.

[5]:

The term 'vayodhas' is said to be undefined inasmuch as, though it is meant to apply to Indra, the name of this god is not mentioned along with it in the formulas.

[6]:

During the performance of the Sautrāmaṇī proper (on the fourth day) three victims are immolated, a he-goat to the Aśvins, a ram to Sarasvatī, and another bull to Indra. But at the beginning of the whole performance--either before or after the first pap to Aditi (cf. XII, 9, 2, 11)--a bull is sacrificed to Indra; and at the end--after the second pap to Aditi and the dish of curds to Mitra and Varuṇa (see p. 252, note 4 (This note does not exist.--JBH))--another animal sacrifice is performed to Indra Vayodhas. The sacrificial stakes for the first and last of the three victims sacred to Indra, are to be placed north and south of that of Indra's second bull, the one sacrificed as part of the Sautrāmaṇī proper.

[7]:

The object of identifying different ceremonial acts and features with certain parts of the body is of course to impress upon the mind of the Sacrificer the efficacy of the Sautrāmaṇī in securing to him a new, complete body for the other life.