Kanda XI, adhyaya 2, brahmana 5

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

1. And, verily, even on this occasion^[1], they slaughter the sacrificial horse (Aśvamedha) as a sacrifice to the gods: of this (New and Full-moon sacrifice) they say, 'It is the original (normal) Aśvamedha;' and that (real Aśvamedha), indeed, is just the other (modified one); for, indeed, the Aśvamedha is the same as the moon.

2. As to this, they say, 'For each foot of the sacrificial horse they offer an oblation;'--when he performs the Agnihotra in the evening and morning, he offers two oblations in the evening, and two in the morning--that makes four oblations: thus--the horse being four-footed--an oblation is offered for each of its feet.

3. As to this, they say, 'On the starting off of the horse he performs an offering^[2]; for the moon, doubtless, is the same as King Soma, the food of the gods: when, during that night (of new moon), he does not appear either in the east or in the west, then he comes to this world, and starts for this world^[3].'

4. Now, when he performs the New-moon sacrifice, he thereby performs the (same) offering (as) on the starting of that (horse), and when he performs the Full-moon sacrifice he slaughters the sacrificial horse itself, and, having slaughtered it, he presents it to the gods. The other (real) horse-sacrifice they indeed perform (only) a year after (the starting offering), but this month (of the Full and New-moon sacrifice), revolving, makes up a year^[4]: thus the sacrificial horse comes to be slaughtered for him year after year.

5. Verily, then, for him who, knowing this, offers both the Agnihotra and the Full and New-moon sacrifices, they slaughter the sacrificial horse month by month; and month by month the Aśvamedha is offered for him, and his Agnihotra and Full and New-moon sacrifices come to pass into the Aśvamedha.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Viz. in performing the Full and New-moon sacrifice, for which all the benefits accruing from the Aśvamedha are here claimed.

[2]:

According to Āśv. X, 6, 2 seqq., having chosen the horse to be sacrificed, he performs two iṣṭis, to Agni Mūrdhanvat and Pūṣan; whereupon he sets free the horse, and for a year performs three iṣṭis daily at the three pressings, viz. to Savitṛ Satyaprasava, Prasavitṛ, and Āsavitṛ.

[3]:

Or, he disappears in this world; the same verb (vi-vṛt) being used for the disappearance as for the starting off of the horse when set free.

[4]:

The syntactic construction of the last two sentences is that frequently alluded to before, viz. that of parenthetic causal clauses.