Kanda XIII, adhyaya 5, brahmana 3

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

THE VAPĀ-OFFERINGS.

1. Now as to the offering of the omenta. 'They should proceed with them singly up to the omentum of the Vaiśvadeva (victim)^[1]; and when the omentum of the Vaiśvadeva has been offered, they should thereupon offer the others,' said Satyakāma Jābāla; 'for, doubtless, the All-Gods (Viśve Devāḥ) are all (sarve) the gods: it is in this way he gratifies them deity after deity.'

2. 'When the omentum of the Aindrāgna (victim) has been offered, they should thereupon offer the others,' said the two Saumapa Mānutantavya;'for, doubtless, Indra and Agni are all the gods: it is in this way he gratifies them deity after deity.'

3. 'When the omentum of the (victim) sacred to Ka has been offered, they should thereupon offer the others,' said Śailāli; 'for, doubtless, Ka is Prajāpati, and behind Prajāpati are all the gods: it is in this way he gratifies them deity after deity.'

4. 'Having gone through the twenty-one deities of the Seasonal^[2] (victims), let them proceed by dividing (the omenta) into twenty-one parts^[3],' said Bhāllaveya; 'for as many as there are Seasonal deities so many are all the gods: it is in this way he gratifies them deity after deity.'

5. 'Let them proceed (with the omenta) singly and not otherwise,' said Indrota Saunaka; 'why, indeed, should they hasten? It is in this way he gratifies them deity after deity.' This, then, is what these have said, but the established practice is different therefrom.

6. Now Yājñavalkya said, 'They should proceed simultaneously with the (omenta) of Prajāpati's^[4] (victims), and simultaneously with those consecrated to single gods: it is in this way that he gratifies them deity after deity, that he goes straightway to the completion of the sacrifice, and does not stumble.'

7. When the omenta have been offered, the Adhvaryu enters (the Havirdhāna shed) and draws

Prajāpati's second Mahiman cup of Soma in a silver vessel. The Puroruc thereof is (Vāj. XXIII, 3), 'He who by his greatness hath become the one king of the breathing and blinking world, [and who here ruleth over the two-footed and the four-footed: to the god Ka (Who?) will we pay homage by offering].' The Anuvākyā and Yājyā are interchanged so as to (ensure) unimpaired vigour^[5], and the Praiṣa (direction to Hotṛ) is the same (as that of the first cup). As the Vaṣaṭ is uttered, he offers with (Vāj. S. XXIII, 4), 'What greatness of thine there hath been in the night, and the year, [what greatness of thine there hath been in the earth and the fire; what greatness of thine there hath been in the Nakṣatras and the moon, to that greatness of thine, to Prajāpati, to the gods, hail^[6]].' He does not repeat the Vaṣaṭ: the significance of this has been explained.

8. Of the blood of the other victims they make no sacrificial portions; of (that of) the horse they do make portions^[7]. Of (the blood of) the others they make portions^[8] on the south side, of (that of) the horse on the north side (of the altar); of (the blood of) the others he makes portions on (a mat of) plakṣa (ficus infectoria) twigs, of (that of) the horse on rattan twigs.

9. But concerning this, Sātyayajñi said, 'They may indeed do it in either way, only one must not depart from the (right) path.' But the former, indeed, is the established practice. The sacrifice (of the second day) is an Ukthya: thereby he causes the air-world to prosper. The last day is an Atirātra with all the Stomas, for him to obtain and secure everything, for the Atirātra with all the Stomas is everything, and the Aśvamedha is everything.

10. Its Bahiṣpavamāna (stotra) is in the Trivṛt (9-versed Stoma), the Ājya (stotras) in the Pañcadaśa (15-versed), the Mādhyandina-pavamāna in the Saptadaśa (17), the Pṛṣṭhas in the Ekaviṃśa (21), the Tṛtīya Pavamāna in the Triṇava (27), the Agniṣṭoma-sāman in the Trayastriṃśa (33), the Ukthas in the Ekaviṃśa (21), the Ṣoḍaśin in the Ekaviṃśa, the night (chants) in the Pañcadaśa, the Sandhi (twilight chant) in the Trivṛt (9). Whatever Śastra is (recited) for the second day of the Pṛṣṭhya Ṣaḍaha that is (used at) the Atirātra sacrifice^[9]; thereby he causes yonder (heavenly) world to prosper.

11. 'There are twenty-one Savanīya victims, all of them consecrated to Agni, and there is one and the same performance for them,' so say some; but let him rather immolate those twenty-four bovine (victims^[10]) for twelve deities,--twelve months are a year, and the year is everything, and the Aśvamedha is everything: thus it is for the sake of his obtaining and securing everything.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Whilst there are amongst the victims immolated on the second day, several others consecrated to the Viśve Devāḥ, Indra and Agni, and Ka,--the Vaiśvadeva, Aindrāgna, and Kāya victims, referred to in this and the following two paragraphs, belong to the Kāturmāsya, or Seasonal victims, being amongst those tied to the fourteenth and sixteenth stakes. Though the text speaks only of one Vaiśvadeva &c. victim, there are really three such victims in each case. According to the views referred to in these paragraphs (cf. comm. on Kāty. XX, 7, 23), the omenta of all the preceding victims (from the 'paryaṅgya' onwards) up to the beginning of the Kāturmāsyas, would be offered together after (or along with) the vapās of those of the respective victims (Vaiśvadeva &c.) specified in these paragraphs; and along therewith the vapās of all the subsequent Seasonal victims. The deities to which this heap of omenta would be offered, would thus be either the Viśve Devāḥ, or Indra and Agni, or Ka, as representing all the deities. Āśv. S. X, 9, 7, assigns the omenta of all the victims, except the three Prājāpatya ones, to the Viśve Devāḥ.

[2]:

See p. 309, note 2.

[3]:

According to this view, the omenta of all the victims after the three first (Prājāpatya) ones,--i.e. beginning from the 'paryaṅgya' animals (see p. 299, note 2) up to the end of the Cāturmāsya, or Seasonal victims, which are the last of the domesticated animals--would be put together in one heap and divided into twenty-one portions, which would then be offered to the first twenty-one deities of the Seasonal offerings, that is to say, to those of the Vaiśvadeva, Varuṇapraghāsa, Sākamedha, and Mahāhavis offerings, thus omitting the deities of the Pitryeṣṭi and the Śunāsīriya offerings.

[4]:

That is the first three victims, viz. the horse, the hornless he-goat, and the Gomṛga.

[5]:

By simple repetition this would be impaired.

[6]:

See XIII, 2, 11, 2 with note.

[7]:

See XIII, 3, 4, 2-5.

[8]:

This would be an alternative view. According to the scholl. on Katy. XX, 8, 1-3, this would seem to refer to the other Prājāpatya victims, in which case one would, however, expect the dual here, as there are only two of them besides the horse.

[9]:

In the same way Āśv. S. X, 4, 8 lays down the rule that the Śastras of the second day are those of the fifth day of the Vyūḍha Pṛṣṭhya-ṣaḍaha; cf. above, XIII, 5, 1, 7 seqq.

[10]:

See XIII, 3, 2, 3.