Aitareyabrahmana 3.18

3.18

He recites the dhāyyā verses. / By the dhāyyā verses Prajāpati sucked these worlds, whatever wish he desired; / just so the sacrificer by the dhāyyā verses sucks these worlds, whatever wish he desires, who knows thus. As to why they are called dhāyyās: / wherever the gods perceived an aperture in the sacrifice, / there they plugged it with the dhāyyās; that is the dhāyyā-nature of the dhāyyās. / With an aperture-free sacrifice has he sacrificed, who knows thus. And again, as to why they are called dhāyyās: / a seam, indeed, of the sacrifice are the dhāyyās. / Just as one would go joining cloth with a needle, / even so he goes joining the aperture of the sacrifice with these, who knows thus. And again, as to why they are called dhāyyās: / these are verily the ukthas of the upasads themselves, namely the dhāyyās. / 'Agni, the leader' [RV 3.20.4] is the first upasad belonging to Agni; this is its uktha. / 'Thou, O Soma, by intentions' [RV 1.91.2] is the second upasad belonging to Soma; this is its uktha. / 'They swell the waters' [RV 1.64.6] is the third upasad belonging to Viṣṇu; this is its uktha. / As great a world as one wins by sacrificing with the Soma sacrifice, / that [world] he wins from this by each single upasad, / who knows thus and who, knowing thus, recites the dhāyyā verses. / As to this, some say: 'He should recite "To these mighty ones of yours" [RV 7.34.1], for that is what we recognise being recited among the Bharatas,' so speaking. / That is not to be regarded. / If he were to recite that, Parjanya would be liable not to rain. / He should recite only 'They swell the waters'. / The quarter-verse is rain-winning; 'Maruts' [indicates that] it belongs to the Maruts; / 'like a courser they lead [the cloud] out to rain' contains [the word] *vinīta* ('trained/led out'). / What contains *vinīta* contains stride (*vikrānta*); what contains stride belongs to Viṣṇu. / 'The swift one' [indicates that] Indra is the swift one. In this [verse] there are four quarter-verses: / rain-winning, belonging to the Maruts, belonging to Viṣṇu, belonging to Indra. / This [verse], although having a share in the third pressing, is recited at the midday [pressing]. / Therefore indeed the cattle of the Bharatas, / although having their cowpens at evening, come together at midday to the gathering of the cows. / That is a jagatī, for cattle are connected with the jagatī; the midday [pressing] is the self of the sacrificer; / thereby he places cattle in the sacrificer.