Satapatha-brahmana
by Julius Eggeling | 1882 | 730,838 words | ISBN-13: 9788120801134
This is Satapatha Brahmana XII.2.4 English translation of the Sanskrit text, including a glossary of technical terms. This book defines instructions on Vedic rituals and explains the legends behind them. The four Vedas are the highest authortity of the Hindu lifestyle revolving around four castes (viz., Brahmana, Ksatriya, Vaishya and Shudra). Satapatha (also, Śatapatha, shatapatha) translates to “hundred paths”. This page contains the text of the 4th brahmana of kanda XII, adhyaya 2.
Kanda XII, adhyaya 2, brahmana 4
1. The Year, indeed, is Man;--the Prāyaṇīya Atirātra is his breath, for by means of the breath men go forward (prayanti); and the Ārambhaṇīya (opening) day[1] is speech, for by means of speech men undertake (ārabh) whatever they do undertake.
2. The Abhiplava-ṣaḍaha is this right hand[2]. This (little finger) is the first day thereof,--this (upper joint[3])is its morning-service, this (middle joint) its midday-service, and this (lower joint) its evening-service: it is in place of the Gāyatrī, whence this (little finger) is the shortest of these (fingers).
3. This (third finger) is the second day,--this (upper joint) is its morning-service, this (middle joint) its midday-service, and this (lower joint) its evening-service: it is in place of the Triṣṭubh, whence this (third finger) is larger than this (little finger).
4. This (middle finger) is the third day,--this is its morning-service, this its midday-service, and this its evening-service: it is in place of the Jagatī, whence this is the largest of these (fingers).
5. This (fore-finger) is the fourth day,--this is its morning-service, this its midday-service, and this its evening-service: it is in place of the Virāj; for the Virāj is food, whence this (fore-finger) is the most food-eating[4] of these (fingers).
6. This (thumb) is the fifth day,--this is its morning-service, this its midday-service, and this its evening-service: it is in place of the Paṅkti, for the Paṅkti is broad[5], as it were, whence this (thumb) is the broadest of these (fingers).
7. This (right arm) is the sixth day,--this (forearm[6]) is its morning-service, this (upper arm) its midday-service, and this (shoulder-blade) its evening-service: it is in place of the Atichandas, whence this (arm) is larger than those (fingers). That day is a Gāyatrī one, whence this shoulder-blade is the shortest: this Abhiplava-ṣaḍaha (extends) in this, in this, in this, and in this, direction[7]; and the Pṛṣṭhya is the body (trunk).
8. Now, as to this, Paiṅgya, knowing this, said, 'The Abhiplavas leap about (plavante), as it were, and the Pṛṣṭhya stands (sthā)[8], as it were; for this (man) leaps about, as it were, with his limbs, and he stands, as it were, with his body.'
9. The Trivṛt (stoma) is its head, whence that (head) is threefold (trivṛt)--skin, bone, and brain.
10. The Pañcadaśa (fifteen-versed hymn-form) is the neck-joints,--for there are fourteen of these (joints)[9], and the vital force is the fifteenth; hence by means of that (neck), though being small, man bears a heavy burden: therefore the Pañcadaśa is the neck.
11. The Saptadaśa (seventeen-versed hymn-form) is the chest; for there are eight 'jatru[10]' on the one side, and eight on the other, and the chest itself is the seventeenth: therefore the Saptadaśa (stoma) is the chest.
12. The Ekaviṃśa (twenty-one-versed hymn-form) is the belly, for inside the belly there are twenty 'kuntāpa[11],' and the belly is the twenty-first: therefore the Ekaviṃśa (stoma) is the belly.
13. The Triṇava (thrice nine-versed hymn-form) is the two sides (pārśva);--there are thirteen ribs (parśu) on the one side, and thirteen on the other[12], and the sides make up the thrice ninth: therefore the Triṇava (stoma) is the two sides.
14. The Trayastriṃśa (thirty-three-versed hymn-form) is the spine; for there are thirty-two 'karūkara[13]' of that (spine), and the spine itself is the thirty-third: therefore the Trayastriṃśa (stoma) is the spine.
15. The Abhijit is the same as this right ear; the first Svarasāman is this white part of the eye, the second the black part, and the third the pupil; the Vishuvat is the nose, the first backward Svarasāman is this pupil of the eye, the second the black, and the third the white part thereof.
16. The Viśvajit is the same as this left ear; the Pṛṣṭhya and Abhiplava have been told; the Go and Āyus are the two downward breathings which there are (in the body); the Daśarātra the limbs, the Mahāvrata is the mouth; and the Udayanīya Atirātra the up-breathing, for by means of the up-breathing men go upwards (ud-yanti): such is that year as established in the body; and, verily, whosoever thus knows that year as established in the body, establishes himself by offspring and cattle in this, and by immortality in the other, world.
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
Hereby the Caturviṃśa day would seem to be meant (as, indeed, it is also taken by Harisvāmin, see p. 157, note 2;* p. 167, note 1.
[2]:
The right hand is apparently taken here to represent the four limbs--the arms and legs. In Sanskrit the terms for finger and toe (as for thumb and large toe) are the same.
[3]:
That is, apparently the bone joining the palm; though possibly the one forming the extreme end of the finger may be intended. But inasmuch as the morning-service has five stotras as compared with the two of the evening-service the former might be expected to be compared with the larger of the two bones.
[4]:
Prof. Weber, Pratijñāsūtra, p. 97, refers to II, 4, 2, 18, where, in his opinion, the passage '(thus) they ladle out (food) for men' p. 162 points to the fore-finger as the finger used most in eating. This is not improbable, though Sāyaṇa, as well as the commentary on Katy. IV, 1, 10, it is true, does not interpret the passage in that way.
[5]:
Viz. inasmuch as it consists of five pādas,--instead of three, as in the case of the Gāyatrī, or four, as in that of the others.
[6]:
Thus also Harisvāmin (hardly, the palm; but see p. 161, note 3).
[7]:
Viz. in the direction of the two arms and the two legs. There being, in nine of the twelve months of the year, four Abhiplavas and one Pṛṣṭhya in each month, the two kinds of six-days’ performances as regards numbers, certainly offer an analogy to the limbs and the body.
[8]:
This etymological quibble seems to refer to the fact that the Abhiplavas are performed before the Pṛṣṭhya in the first half of the year, and after them in the second half; though the same feature of change might, vice versa, be applied to the Pṛṣṭhya. It is possible, however, that the author may refer here to other characteristic features of the two kinds of Ṣaḍahas; and it cannot be denied that the Abhiplava days are liable to much greater change than the Pṛṣṭhya days. The constant change in the p. 163 'sequence of stomas' in the Abhiplava has already been referred to (p. 148, note 1). Another source of change, in the Abhiplava, is the peculiar way in which the Brahmasāman (or Brāhmaṇāchaṃsin's Pṛṣṭhastotra) is varied from day to day. For, whilst during the months preceding the Vishuvat day, the Abhīvarta tune it used for this stotra on each day, but with different Pragātha verses chanted thereto from day to day; during the second half of the year, on the other hand, the same text (Sāma-veda II, 806) is used throughout, whilst its tune is varied from day to day. Since in the second half of the year the order of the days of the Pṛṣṭhya-ṣaḍaha must be reversed, whilst this is optionally the case as regards the Abhiplava, this feature can hardly be referred to here.
[9]:
The 'grīvāḥ' thus, as far as man is concerned, include not only the seven cervical vertebrae, but also the upper seven dorsal vertebrae, being those to which the true ribs are attached. It is worth remarking, however, that in large birds such as the eagle, the neck itself consists of fourteen vertebrae.
[10]:
The St. Petersb. Dict. takes 'jatru' in the sense of 'tuberculae costarum,' or tubercles of the ribs, the projections near the 'heads' of the ribs where these join the spinal vertebrae; this conjectural meaning being based on VIII, 6, 2, 10, where the ribs are said to be fastened on both sides to the kīkasāḥ (? sternum) and the jatravaḥ. Against this conjecture (as the Dict. remarks) is the circumstance that the jatravaḥ are here said to form part of the chest; and, besides, the tubercle of the rib is not a separate bone, and would hardly be likely to be specially singled out in this p. 164 connection. Perhaps, therefore, the jatravaḥ may rather be the costal cartilages connecting the seven true ribs with the sternum, and along with them the ligament of the collar-bone where it joins the sternum; in which case the former passage would have to be understood in the sense that the ribs are on both (the right and left) sides fastened on to the costal cartilages and (through them) to the 'kīkasāḥ,' the breast-bone, or rather the several bones or plates of which the sternum consists, as articulated with the clavicles and the true ribs. It is possible, however, that 'kīkasāḥ' may have a different meaning from that here assigned to it, in acc. with the St. Petersb. Dict. Indeed, one would expect the 'kīkasāḥ' and 'jatravaḥ' on different ends of the ribs.
[11]:
The meaning of 'kuntāpa' is likewise doubtful. The St. Petersb. Dict. suggests that certain glands may he intended thereby; but possibly the term may refer to the transverse processes (forming spikes, so to speak; cf. kunta) on both sides of the ten lower spinal vertebrae below the vertebra of the last true rib,--i.e. of the five lower dorsal, and the five lumbar vertebrae.
[12]:
The clavicle, or collar-bone, would thus seem to be classed along with the ribs. Rather peculiar, in the anatomical phraseology employed in the Brāhmaṇa, is the collateral use of 'parśu' and 'pṛṣṭi' for 'rib'; and it is by no means clear that there is no distinction between the two terms. In connection with the Retaḥsic bricks the term 'pṛṣṭi' seems to be invariably used,--cf. VIII, 6, 2, 7, as against ib. paragraph 10 (parśu).
[13]:
This is another term, the exact meaning of which is somewhat doubtful. The St. Petersb. Dict. takes 'karūkara' to refer to the vertebrae of the spinal column; and if that be correct, the term would seem to include not only the twenty-four joints of the backbone down to the last lumbar vertebrae, but also the appendages of the spine, viz. the sacrum with its five, and the coccyx with its four pieces: this, it is true, yields thirty-three, instead of thirty-two, parts, but it seems scarcely possible in any other way--as, for instance, by taking into account the epiphysial plates between the vertebrae, along with the latter--to arrive at a total approximating that mentioned in the above passage.