Satapatha-brahmana

by Julius Eggeling | 1882 | 730,838 words | ISBN-13: 9788120801134

This is Satapatha Brahmana XII.3.1 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 1st brahmana of kanda XII, adhyaya 3.

Kanda XII, adhyaya 3, brahmana 1

1. 'Seeing that all this threefold universe keeps passing into one another, O Bālāki, how is it that these,--to wit, the sacrifice, Man, and Prajāpati,--do not exceed one another?

2. Seeing that the upward Stomas follow the sacrifice, fitting themselves by repetitions with Sāmans, how do they enter man, and how do they become united with the vital airs?

3. The Prāyaṇīya Atirātra, the Caturviṃśa day, the four Abhiplavas, and the Pṛṣṭhya (ṣaḍaha):how do these enter man, and how do they become united with the vital airs?

4. Fitted out with the Abhijit, the Svarasāmans join the Vishuvat on both sides:--how do these enter man, and how do they become united with the vital airs?

5. Setting out with the Trivṛt, fitted out with the (Pañcadaśa and) Saptadaśa, and ending with the Trayastriṃśa; with (the series of stomas increasing) successively by four (syllables[1]):--how do these enter man, and how do they become united with the vital airs?'

6. The Trivṛt is his head, the Pañcadaśa his neck; and the chest, they say, corresponds to the Saptadaśa; the Ekaviṃśa they make the belly, and the two sides, by means of the Triṇava, correspond to the ribs.

7. The Abhiplavas on both sides (of the Vishuvat) are his arms, the Pṛṣṭhya is the back,--so say the wise; and his spine the Brāhmaṇas fashion in the year by means of the (series of stomas increasing) successively by four (syllables).

8. The Abhijit and Viśvajit are his ears; and his eyes, they say, correspond to the Svarasāmans; the Vishuvat, they say, is the breath of the nostrils; and the Go and Āyus are those two downward breathings.

9. The Daśarātra they call his limbs, and the Mahāvrata the Brāhmaṇas fashion (arrange) so as to be the mouth in the year[2];--the Supreme Self has entered into that year endowed with all stomas and with all sāmans: having fashioned him alike with the body, the sage is seated free from pain[3] on the heights of the ruddy one (the sun).

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

The Trivṛt, or nine-versed stoma, is, however, followed by the Pañcadaśa, or fifteen-versed stoma--the thirteen-versed form not being in ordinary use--and these are succeeded by the Saptadaśa (17), Ekaviṃśa (21), &c. Possibly, however, this last sentence may refer to the six days of the Pṛṣṭhya-ṣaḍaha for which the stomas consisting of 9, 25, 17, 21, 27 and 33 verses respectively are used. On the Abhijit day, each of the first four stomas is used in succession for three stotras, the four hymn-forms thus making up the twelve stotras of the Agniṣṭoma. On the Viśvajit day, on the other hand, only three stomas are used--the Trivṛt, Pañcadaśa, and Saptadaśa--four stotras being assigned to each of these three hymn-forms.

[2]:

Though the Mahāvrata day is actually the last day but one of the one year's sacrificial session, whilst the Caturviṃśa day is the second, these two days mark really the end and beginning of the year, whilst the nominal first and last days of the sessional performance may be considered as consisting of mere preliminary and concluding (winding-up) rites. The above symbolic identification of the Mahāvrata with the mouth of Agni-Prajāpati, the Year, might thus lead one to suppose (as, indeed, is done by Prof. Hillebrandt, Die Sonnwendfeste in Alt-Indien, p. 11) that if two such annual sessions were immediately to succeed each other, the Mahāvrata and Katurvimśa would fall on one and the same day. The Mahāvrata, representing (at least symbolically) the winter-solstice, would thus mark both the end and the beginning of two successive solar periods.

[3]:

Literally, with unborn pain (or, with the pain of one unborn).

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