[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Vedic Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.veda) › [Brāhmaṇas (ritual exegesis)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.veda.brahmana) › [Aitareyabrahmana](https://indike.org/pramana/in.veda.brahmana.aitreya) › 4.1 # Aitareyabrahmana 4.1: adhyāya 16, khaṇḍaḥ 1-6 Aitareyabrāhmaṇa 4.1 - **Language:** Sanskrit ### [4.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.veda.brahmana.aitreya.4.1) devā vai prathamenāhnendrāya vajraṃ samabharaṃs, taṃ dvitīyenāhnāsiñcaṃs, taṃ tṛtīyenāhnā prāyachaṃs, taṃ caturthe 'han prāharat. tasmāc cathurthe 'han ṣoḷaśinaṃ śaṃsati vajro vā eṣa yat ṣoḷāśī. tad yac caturthe 'han ṣoḷaśinaṃ śaṃsati, vajram eva tat praharati dviṣate bhrātṛvyāya vadhaṃ yo 'sya stṛtyas tasmai startavai vajro vai ṣoḷaśī paśava ukthāni, tam parastād ukthānām paryasya śaṃsati taṃ yat parastād ukthānām paryasya śaṃsati, vajreṇaiva tat ṣoḷaśinā paśūn parigachati. tasmāt paśavo vajreṇaiva ṣoḷaśinā parigatā manuṣyān abhy upāvartante. tasmād aśvo vā puruṣo vā gaur vā hastī vā parigata eva svayam ātmaneta eva vācābhiṣiddha upāvartate, vajram eva ṣoḷaśinam paśyan vajreṇaiva ṣoḷaśinā parigato. vāg ghi vajro vāk ṣoḷaśī tad āhuḥ: kiṃ ṣoḷaśinaḥ ṣoḷaśitvam iti. ṣoḷaśaḥ stotrāṇāṃ ṣoḷaśaḥ śastrāṇāṃ, ṣoḷaśabhir akṣarair ādatte ṣoḷaśibhiḥ praṇauti, ṣoḷaśapadāṃ nividaṃ dadhāti: tat ṣoḷaśinaḥ ṣoḷaśitvaṃ dve vā akṣare atiricyete ṣoḷaśino 'nuṣṭubham abhisampannasya. vāco vāva tau stanau, satyānṛte vāva te avaty enaṃ satyaṃ, nainam anṛtaṃ hinasti ya evaṃ veda > iv. 1 (xvi. 1). The gods by the first day collected the thunderbolt for Indra; by the second day they dipped it; by the third day they presented it; it he hurled on the fourth day. Therefore on the fourth day he recites the Ṣoḍaçin. The Ṣoḍaçin is a thunderbolt; in that on the fourth day he recites the Ṣoḍaçin, verily thus he hurls at the rival who hates him the thunderbolt as a weapon to lay him low who is to be laid low by him. The Ṣoḍaçin is a thunderbolt, the litanies cattle; putting it round after the litanies he recites. In that putting it round after the litanies he recites, verily thus with the Ṣoḍaçin as a thunderbolt he surrounds cattle. Therefore cattle, being surrounded by the Ṣoḍaçin as a thunderbolt, come up to man. Therefore a horse or a man or a cow or an elephant being surrounded, led by itself, comes up when bidden by the voice; by merely seeing the Ṣoḍaçin as a thunderbolt, he is surrounded by the Ṣoḍaçin as a thunderbolt, for the thunderbolt is speech, the Ṣoḍaçin speech. They say 'Why has the Ṣoḍaçin this name?' Of the Stotras it is the sixteenth; the sixteenth of the Çastras; with sixteen syllables he commences; with the (next) sixteen he says \*om\*; he inserts a Nivid of sixteen sentences; that is why the Ṣoḍaçin has its name. Two syllables are left over when the Ṣoḍaçin is made into an Anuṣṭubh; these are the two breasts of speech; these are truth and falsehood; truth aids him, falsehood harms him not, who knows thus. > — Arthur Berriedale Keith 1920, Rigveda Brahmanas: The Aitareya and Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇas of the Rigveda (HOS 25) - [Previous: 3.50](https://indike.org/pramana/in.veda.brahmana.aitreya.3.50) - [Next: 4.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.veda.brahmana.aitreya.4.2) - [Up: 4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.veda.brahmana.aitreya.4) ## Translations (2) - [Rigveda Brahmanas: The Aitareya and Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇas of the Rigveda (HOS 25)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.veda.brahmana.aitreya~en-keith.4.1.p2) — Arthur Berriedale Keith 1920, English - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.veda.brahmana.aitreya~en-mt.4.1) — English, machine translation ## Commentaries (1) - [Aitareyabrāhmaṇabhāṣya (Vedārthaprakāśa)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.veda.brahmana.aitreya!sayana.19.p6) — Sāyaṇa, Sanskrit ## Linked texts (1) - [Gopathabrāhmaṇa (ed. Gaastra 1919)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.veda.brahmana.gopatha*gaastra.2.4.19) — Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.veda.brahmana.aitreya.4.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.veda.brahmana.aitreya.4.1) · Pramāṇa