III, 3, 56

56. Or else there is no contradiction (implied in our opinion); as in the case of mantras and the like.

Or else we may put the matter as follows. There is no reason whatever to suspect a contradiction if we declare certain vidyās enjoined in one Śākhā to be valid for the udgītha and so on belonging to other Śākhās also; for there is no more room for contradiction than in the case of mantras. We observe that mantras, acts, and qualities of acts which are enjoined in one Śākhā are taken over by other Śākhās also. So e.g. the members of certain Yajur-veda Śākhās do not exhibit in their text the mantra, 'Thou art the kuṭaru^[1]', which accompanies the taking of the stone (with which the rice-grains are ground); all the same we meet in their text with the following injunction of application, 'Thou art the cock, with this mantra he takes the stone; or else with the mantra, Thou art the kuṭaru.' Again, the text of some Śākhā does not contain a direct injunction of the five offerings called prayājas which are made to the fuel and so on, but it contains the injunction of secondary matters connected with the prayājas, viz. in the passage, 'the seasons indeed are the prayājas; they are to be offered in one and the same spot^[2].'--Again, the text of some Śākhā does not contain an injunction as to the species of the animal to be sacrificed to Agnīṣomau--such as would be 'a he-goat is sacrificed to Agnīṣomau^[3];'--but in the same Śākhā we meet with a mantra which contains the required specification, 'Hotṛ', recite the anuvākyā, for the fat of the omentum of the he-goat^[4].' Similarly mantras enjoined in one Veda only, such as 'O Agni, promote the hautra, promote the sacrifice,' are seen to be taken over into other Vedas also. Another example (of the transference of mantras) is supplied by the hymn, 'He who as soon as born showed himself intelligent,' &c. (Ṛc. Saṃh. II, 12), which although read in the text of the Bahvṛkas is employed in the Taittirīya Veda also, according to Taitt. Saṃh. VII, 5, 5, 2, 'The Sajanīya hymn is to be recited.'--Just as, therefore, the members of sacrificial actions on which certain vidyās rest are valid everywhere, so the vidyās themselves also which rest on those members are valid for all Śākhās and Vedas.