Aitareyabrahmana 7.3: ADHYĀYA III

Rigveda Brahmanas: The Aitareya and Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇas of the Rigveda (HOS 25) 7.3

Language: English

ADHYĀYA III

vii. 13 (xxxiii. 1). Hariçcandra Vaidhasa Aikṣvāka was the son of a king; a hundred wives were his, but he had no son from them. In his house dwelt Parvata and Nārada; he asked Nārada: ‘Since now men desire a son, Both those that have and those that have not knowledge What doth a man gain by a son? Tell me that, O Nārada.’ He, asked in one verse, replied in ten: ‘A debt he payeth in him, And immortality he attaineth, That father who seeth the face Of a son born living. The delights in the earth, The delights in the fire, The delights in the waters of living beings, Greater than these is that of a father in a son. By means of a son have fathers ever Passed over the deep darkness; The self is born from the self

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The (son) is (a ship), well-found, to ferry over. What is the use of dirt, what of the goat-skin? What of long hair, and what of fervour? Seek a son, O Brahmans, This is the world's advice . Food is breath, clothing a protection, Gold an ornament, cattle lead to marriage, A wife is a comrade, a daughter a misery, And a son a light in the highest heaven. The father entereth the wife, Having become a germ (he entereth) the mother, In her becoming renewed, He is born in the tenth month. A wife hath her name of wife, Since in her he is born again He is productive, she productive, The seed is placed here. The gods and the seers Brought her together as great brilliance; The gods said to men "This is your mother again." "A sonless one cannot attain heaven," All the beasts know this; Therefore a son his mother And his sister mounteth. This is the broad and auspicious path Along which men with sons fare free from sorrow;

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On it beasts and herds gaze For it they unite even with a mother. Thus he told him.

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vii. 14 (xxxiii. 2). Then he said to him, ‘Have recourse to Varuṇa, the king, (saying) ‘Let a son be born to me; with him let me sacrifice to thee.’ ‘Be it so,’ (he replied). He went up to Varuṇa, the king, (saying) ‘Let a son be born to me; with him let me sacrifice to thee.’ ‘Be it so’ (he replied). To him a son was born, Rohita by name. To him he said ‘A son hath been born to thee; sacrifice to me with him.’ He said ‘When a victim is over ten days old then it becomes fit for sacrifice; let him become over ten days old; then let me sacrifice to thee with him.’ ‘Be it so’ (he replied). He became over ten days old. He said to him ‘He hath become over ten days old; sacrifice to me with him.’ He said ‘When the teeth of a victim appear, then it becomes fit for sacrifice; let his teeth appear; then let me sacrifice to thee (with him).’ ‘Be it so’ (he replied). His teeth appeared; he said to him ‘His teeth have appeared; sacrifice to me with him.’ He said ‘When the teeth of a victim fall, then it becomes fit for sacrifice; let his teeth fall; then let me sacrifice to thee.’ ‘Be it so’ (he replied). His teeth fell; he said to him ‘His teeth have fallen; sacrifice to me with him.’ He said ‘When the teeth of a victim appear again, then it becomes fit for sacrifice; let his teeth appear again; then let me sacrifice to thee.’ ‘Be it so’ (he replied). His teeth appeared again; he said to him ‘His teeth have appeared again; sacrifice to me with him.’ He said ‘When the Kṣatriya is fit to bear arms, then is he fit for sacrifice; let him win his arms; then let me sacrifice to thee.’ ‘Be it so’ (he replied). He won his arms; he said to him ‘He hath now won his arms; sacrifice to me with him.’ ‘Be it so’ he said and addressed his son ‘O my dear one, this one gave thee to me;

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come, let me sacrifice to him with thee.’ ‘No’ he said and taking his bow went to the wild, and for a year he wandered in the wild.

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vii. 15 (xxxiii. 3). Then Varuṇa seized Aikṣvāka; his belly swelled up. This Rohita heard; he went from the wild to the village. To him Indra came in human form and said

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‘“Manifold is the prosperity of him who is weary,”
So have we heard, O Rohita;
Evil is he who stayeth among men,
Indra is the comrade of the wanderer.

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Do thou wander’. (Thinking) ‘This Brahman hath bidden me “wander”, he wandered for a second year in the wild. He came from the wild to the village. To him came Indra in human form and said

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‘Flower-like the heels of the wanderer,
His body groweth and is fruitful;
All his sins disappear,
Slain by the toil of his journeying.

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Do thou wander’. (Thinking) ‘This Brahman hath bidden me “wander”, he wandered for a third year in the wild. He came from the wild to the village. To him came Indra in human form and said

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‘The fortune of him who sitteth also sitteth,
But that of him who standeth standeth erect;
That of him that reclineth lieth down;
The fortune of him that moveth shall move indeed.

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Do thou wander.’ (Thinking) ‘This Brahman hath bidden me “wander”, he wandered for a fourth year in the wild. He came from the wild to the village. To him came Indra in human form and said

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‘Kali he becometh who lieth,
Dvāpara when he riseth,
Tretā when he standeth erect
And Kṛta when he moveth.

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Do thou wander.’ (Thinking) ‘This Brahman hath bidden me “wander”, he wandered for a fifth year in the wild. He came from the wild to the village; to him Indra came in human form and said

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‘Wandering one findeth honey,
Wandering the sweet Udumbara fruit,
Consider the pre-eminence of the sun,
Who wearieth never of wandering.’

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Do thou wander.’ (Thinking) ‘This Brahman hath bidden me “wander”, he wandered for a sixth year in the wild. He found in the wild Ajīgarta Sauyavasi, a seer, overcome with hunger. Three sons were his, Çunaḥpucha, Çunaḥçepa, and Çunolāṅgūla. He said to him ‘O seer, I offer thee a hundred; let me redeem myself with one of these.’ Keeping back the eldest son, he said ‘Not this one’; ‘nor this one’ (said) the mother, (keeping back) the youngest son. They made an agreement regarding the middle one, Çunaḥçepa. Having given a hundred for him, taking him, he went from the wild to the village. Going to his father he said, ‘O father dear, come, let me redeem myself with this one.’ He went to Varuṇa, the king (saying) ‘With this one let me sacrifice to thee.’ ‘Be it so’ (he replied); ‘A Brahman is higher than a Kṣatriya’ Varuṇa said. To him he proclaimed this sacrificial rite, the Rājasūya. On the day of anointing he took the man as victim.

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vii. 16 (xxxiii. 4). For him Viçvāmitra was the Hotṛ, Jamadagni the Adhvaryu, Vasiṣṭha the Brahman, and Ayāsya the Udgātṛ. When he had been brought up they could not find one to bind him; Ajīgarta Sauyavasi said ‘Give me another hundred, and I shall bind him.’ They gave him another hundred; he bound him. When he had been brought up, bound, and the Āprī verses had been said over and fire carried round him, they could not find one to slaughter him; Ajīgarta Sauyavasi said ‘Give me another hundred, and I shall slaughter him.’ They gave him another hundred and he whetting his knife went forward. Then Çunaḥçepa

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reflected ‘Like one that is not a man, they will slaughter me; come, let me have recourse to the deities.’ He had recourse to Prajāpati first of the deities with the verse ‘Of whom now, of which of the immortals?’ To him said Prajāpati ‘Agni is the nearest of the gods; do thou have recourse to him.’ He had recourse to Agni with the verse ‘Of Agni first of the immortals we.’ To him said Agni ‘Savitṛ is the lord of instigations; do thou have recourse to him.’ He had recourse to Savitṛ with the triplet ‘To thee O god Savitṛ.’ To him Savitṛ said ‘For Varuṇa, the king, art thou bound; do thou have recourse to him.’ He had recourse to Varuṇa the king with the following thirty-one (verses). To him said Varuṇa ‘Agni is the first of the gods, the best friend ; praise him, and we shall deliver thee .’ He praised Agni with the next twenty-two (verses). To him said Agni ‘Praise the All-gods, then we shall deliver thee.’ He praised the All-gods with the verse ‘Homage to the great, homage to the small!’ To him said the All-gods ‘Indra is the mightiest, most powerful, strongest, most real, and most effective of the gods; praise him and we shall deliver thee.’ He praised Indra with the hymn ‘Whatever, O true one, the drinkers of Soma’ and fifteen (verses) of the following one. To him Indra, delighted in mind with the praise, gave a chariot of gold. He approached him with this (verse) ‘Ever Indra.’ To him said Indra ‘Praise now the Açvins, then shall we deliver thee.’ He praised the Açvins with the following triplet. To him said the Açvins ‘Praise now Uṣas, then we shall deliver thee.’ He praised Uṣas with the following triplet. As each verse was said by him a bond was loosened the belly of Aikṣvāka became smaller; when the very last verse was said the (last) bond was loosened and Aikṣvāka became free from disease.

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vii. 17 (xxxiii. 5). To him the priests said ‘Do thou devise for us the performance of the day.’ Then Çunaḥçepa saw the immediate pressing; it

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he pressed with these four verses ‘Whatever thou in every house’. Then he carried it to the wooden tub with the verse ‘Take up what remaineth in the bowls’. Then as he took hold of him, he offered with the four preceding verses with calls of Hail! Then he led him to the final bath with the two (verses) ‘Thou, O Agni, knowing Varuṇa’. Then he next made him pay reverence to the Āhavanīya with ‘Çunaḥçepa bound from a thousand’. Then Çunaḥçepa sat on the lap of Viçvāmitra. Ajīgarta Sauyavasi said ‘O seer, give back to me my son’. ‘No’ said Viçvāmitra; ‘the gods have given him to me’. He was Devarāta Vaiçvāmitra, and his descendants are the Kāpileyas and the Bābhravas. Ajīgarta Sauyavasi said ‘Come now; let us invite him’. Ajīgarta Sauyavasi said

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‘Thou art an Aṅgiras by birth,
Famed as a sage, son of Ajīgarta;
O seer, thine ancestral line
Abandon not, return to me.’

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Çunaḥçepa said

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‘They have seen thee knife in hand,
A thing they have not found even among Çūdras.
Three hundreds of kine didst thou,
O Aṅgiras, prefer to me’.

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Ajīgarta Sauyavasi said

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‘Remorse it causeth me, dear one,
The evil deed done by me,
I would obliterate it in thine eyes;
Thine be the hundreds of kine’.

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Çunaḥçepa said

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‘He who once doth what is evil
Would do that evil again;
Thou hast not abandoned thy Çūdra way;
What thou hast done is irreparable .’

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At the word ‘irreparable’ Viçvāmitra joined in (the discussion ); Viçvāmitra said

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‘Dread indeed was Sauyavasi when,
Knife in hand, ready to slaughter;
He stood erect; be not his son;
Become thou a son of mine .’

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Çunaḥçepa said

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‘As thou hast intimated to us,
So, O son of a king, tell
How being an Aṅgiras
I can become thy son .’

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Viçvāmitra said

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‘Thou wouldst be the eldest of my sons,
Thy offspring would hold the highest place.
Accept my divine inheritance,
Unto this I invite thee .’

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Çunaḥçepa said ‘Bid these agree For friendship and prosperity to me That I may, O bull of the Bharatas, Become thy son .’

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Then Viçvāmitra addressed his sons ‘Do thou, Madhuchandas, and do ye hearken, Ṛṣabha, Reṇu, and Aṣṭaka And all their brothers, Do ye accept his superiority .’

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vii. 18 (xxxiii. 6). Viçvāmitra had a hundred and one sons, fifty older than Madhuchandas, fifty younger. Those that were older did not think this right. Them he cursed (saying) ‘Your offspring shall inherit the ends (of the earth).’ These are the (people), the Andhras, Puṇḍras, Çabaras, Pulindas, and Mūtibas, who live in large numbers beyond the borders; most of the Dasyus are the descendants of Viçvāmitra. Madhuchandas with the other fifty said ‘What our father agreeth to That we accept; We all place thee before us, We are after thee.’

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Then Viçvāmitra, pleased, praised his sons ‘O my sons, rich in cattle And with heroic offspring, shall ye be, Who, accepting my will, Have made me possessed of heroic offspring.’

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With a hero to lead you, With Devarāta, O Gāthinas, Shall ye all prosper, O my sons; He shall discern the truth for you. This is your hero, O Kuçikas, Devarāta; him follow; As inheritance from me shall he obtain you And the knowledge which we know. In agreement the sons of Viçvāmitra, All together joyously, Accepted the control of Devarāta, And his pre-eminence, the Gāthinas. Devarāta was granted Both inheritances, the sage, The overlordship of the Jahnus, And the sacred lore of the Gāthinas.

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This is the tale of Çunaḥçepa, with a hundred Ṛc verses as well as Gāthās. This the Hotṛ tells to the king after the anointing. He tells it seated on a golden cushion; seated on a golden cushion he responds; gold is glory; verily thus he makes him prosper by glory. _Om_ is the response to a Ṛc, ‘Be it so’ to a Gāthā; _om_ is divine, ‘Be it so’ human; verily thus with what is divine and what is human he frees him from evil and from sin. Therefore a victorious king should, even when not sacrificing, make him narrate this tale of Çunaḥçepa; not the least tinge of sin will be left over in him. A thousand should he give to the narrator, a hundred to him who makes the response; the seats and a white mule chariot (should also be given) to the Hotṛ. Those who desire sons also should have it narrated; they obtain sons.

Linked texts (1)

Aitareyabrāhmaṇa — Mahidāsa Aitareya, Sanskrit