Aitareyabrahmana 2.6

2.6

He says: 'Divine slaughterers, begin, and [you] human [slaughterers]!'
Thereby he instructs both the slaughterers of the gods and those of humans.
'Bring forward the sacrificial victim to the doors, praying for sacrifice for the two masters of sacrifice.'
The victim is the sacrifice; the sacrificer is the master of sacrifice;
thereby he provides the sacrificer with his own sacrifice.
Now they also say:
'To whatever deity the victim is offered, that deity alone is the master of sacrifice.'
If the victim belongs to one deity, he should say 'for the master of sacrifice';
if to two deities, 'for the two masters of sacrifice'; if to many deities, 'for the masters of sacrifice.'
This indeed is settled.
'Bring fire forward for it.'
When being led, the victim saw death; it did not desire to go after the gods.
The gods said to it:
'Come, we will cause you to go to the heavenly world.'
It said: 'So be it; let one of you go before me.'
'So be it.' Agni went before it; it followed after Agni.
Therefore they say: 'Every victim belongs to Agni, for it followed after Agni.'
Therefore also they carry fire in front of it.
'Spread the sacrificial grass.'
A victim consists of plants; thereby he makes the victim complete in its self.
'May its mother agree, its father, its brother
from the same womb, its friend from the same herd.'
Thereby they slaughter it with the assent of its kin.
'Lay down its feet toward the north; make its eye go to the sun,
its breath release to the wind, its life-spirit to the intermediate space,
its hearing to the quarters, its body to the earth.'
Thereby he places it in these worlds.
'Cut open its skin in one piece; before the navel, cut off the omentum and draw it out;
keep the warmth inside.' Thereby he places the vital breaths in the cattle.
'Make its chest an eagle, its two forelegs two ladles, its two arms two skewers,
its two shoulder-blades like two tortoises, its two hips unpierced, its two thighs door-posts, its two knee-caps oleander leaves.
Its ribs are twenty-six; lift them up in due order;
make each of its limbs complete.' Thereby he gratifies its parts and limbs.
'Dig a hole in the earth to hide the entrails,' he says. The contents of the entrails are indeed plants;
this [earth] is the foundation of plants;
thus in the end he establishes it in its own foundation.