Praśna 7, Kaṇḍikā 2

1. He should cause it to be carried towards the east or the north with the formula, “Do thou not scratch the sky with the top; do thou not injure the raidregion with the middle portion; do thou be united with the earth.”^[1]

2. With the formula, “O tree, do thou grow with a hundred shoots,”^[2] he should offer an oblation on the stump of the tree.

3. He should touch himself with the formula, “May we grow with a thousand shoots.”^[3]

4. With the verse, “Do thou, whom this sharp axe has brought forward for great good fortune, uncut, with the wealth of heroes, give us riches,”^[4] he should chop off the branches (from the bottom) towards “the top.

5. With the same verse, he should cut the end.

6. The measurements of the sacrificial post are from one aratni^[5] to thirty-three aratnis.

7. According to some teachers, the sacrificial post in an Animalsacrifice should be of palāśa, and should have the length of three aratnis or four arainis; other measurements pertiain to one in a Soma-sacrifice.^[6]

8. He should prepare the sacrificial post which should not be too big nor too thin, but should be thinner towards the end and having eight borders.

9. The lower portion equal to the depth of the hole should not be levelled.

10. From the ending portion (previously cut off) he should prepare a caṣāla thirteen aṅgulas in length (pṛthamātra), having eight borders and contracted in the middle.

11. He should keep the sacrificial post as much above the caṣāla as the uppermost phalanx. It should be two aṅgulas above the caṣāla according to some teachers; three aṅgulas according to others.^[7]

12. He should prepare a svaru out of one of the chips, and then pour out paddy for a cake on eleven potsherds to Agni-Viṣṇu.^[8]

13. There should be seventeen sāmidhenī verses.

14. The sacrifice should come to an end in the prescribed manner.

15. It represents the adding of the fuel to the sacred fires (agnyanvādhāna).^[9]

16. There is a view that in the Animal-sacrifice the sacrificer should not receive the fire.^[10]

17. After the Iṣṭi is over, the Adhvaryu should fetch a twig, and prepare the altar in front of the Āhavanīya fire.

18. It should be as long as the pole of a chariot, as broad as the yoke to the front, and as broad as the axle to the rear.^[11]

19. After having performed those rites which precede the second tracing out of the altar, the Adhvaryu should measure out the uttaravedi by means of the yoke-pin (śamyā) to the rear of the spot fixed for a hole for the sacrificial post.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Taittirīya-saṃhitā I.3.5.1.

[2]:

Taittirīya-saṃhitā I.3.5.1.

[3]:

Taittirīya-saṃhitā I.3.5.l.

[4]:

Taittirīya-saṃhitā I.3.5.1.

[5]:

One aratni = 24 aṅgulas.

[6]:

The lengths ranging from five aratnis onwards are optional, cf. Taittirīya-saṃhitā VI.3.3 5,6; Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra VII.2.11. According to Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra VII.2. 13-15, the post should be of the height of the sacrificer standing with raised hands or without raised bands, or standing on a chariot.

[7]:

Or four aṅgulas according to Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra VII.3.6.

[8]:

Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra VII.1.3 prescribes the performance of this sacrifice prior to the procedure pertaining to the procuring of the sacrificial post.

[9]:

That is to say, the Adhvaryu should perform the Animal-sacrifice on the very Āhavanīya fire on which the above-mentioned Iṣṭi was performed; he need not add fuel to the three sacred fires as a preliminary rite of the Animal-sacrifice.

[10]:

That is to say, he should not recite the verses beginning with, “I receive Agni...” (Taittirīya-brāhmaṇa III.7.4.3,4) to be recited while fuel is being added to the sacred fires. cf. IV.1.11.

[11]:

Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra VII.3.9 optionally mentions the measurements in aratni, namely, six aratnis long, three aratnis broad towards the front, and four aratnis to the rear.