Kanda XIII, adhyaya 3, brahmana 8

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

EXPIATORY OFFERINGS.

1. Now, then, of the expiations. If the sacrificial horse were to couple with a mare, let him in addition prepare a milk (oblation) to Vāyu;--Vāyu doubtless is the transformer of seeds, for Vāyu (the wind) is the vital air, and the vital air is the transformer of seeds: by means of seed he thus puts seed into it.

2. And if disease were to befal it, let him in addition prepare a pap to Pūṣan, for Pūṣan rules over beasts (cattle); and, indeed, he thereby gratifies him who owns cattle and rules over cattle; and it (the horse) thereby indeed becomes free from disease.

3. And if sickness without (visible) injury^[1] were to befal it, let him in addition prepare for (Agni) Vaiśvānara a cake on twelve potsherds, with the earth serving for potsherds^[2]; for Vaiśvānara is this (earth): he thereby gratifies this (earth), and it (the horse) becomes free from disease.

4. And if an eye-disease were to befal it, let him in addition prepare a pap to Sūrya;--the Sun, doubtless, is the eye of creatures, for when he rises everything here moves: by means of the eye (of the world) he thus bestows the eye upon it. And as to why it is a pap (caru), it is because by means of the eye this self (body or mind) moves (car).

5. And if it were to die in water, let him in addition prepare a barley pap to Varuṇa, for Varuṇa seizes him who dies in water: he thereby thus gratifies that very deity who seizes it, and, thus gratified, he approves his slaughtering another (horse), and he slaughters it as one approved by that (deity). And as to why it is (prepared) of barley, it is because barley belongs to Varuṇa.

6. And if it were to get lost, let him in addition perform an iṣṭi with three sacrificial dishes--a cake on one potsherd for Heaven and Earth, a milk (oblation) for Vāyu, and a pap for Sūrya;--for whatsoever is lost, is lost within heaven and earth; and the wind blows upon it, and the sun shines upon it; and nothing whatever is lost out of (the reach of) these deities. And even by itself^[3] this (iṣṭi) is the recoverer of what is lost; and even if any other thing of his were to get lost let him perform this very offering, and he verily finds it. And if enemies were to obtain the horse, or if it were to die (either in any other way) or in water^[4], let them bring another (horse) and consecrate it by sprinkling: this, indeed, is the expiation in that case.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Viz. such as fever, comm.

[2]:

That is, spreading them on the earth, or on clods of earth, comm.

[3]:

That is, even independently of the horse-sacrifice.

[4]:

That is to say, if it were to die by getting drowned, or in any other way.