Aitareyabrahmana 6.3

6.3

Speech is the subrahmaṇyā; King Soma is her calf.
When King Soma has been bought, they call out the subrahmaṇyā just as one would call out to a cow;
by means of that calf, she yields all desires for the sacrificer.
Speech yields all desires for him who knows thus.
They ask:
‘Why is the subrahmaṇyā called subrahmaṇyā?’
He should say: ‘Just speech; speech is both brahman and subrahma.’
They ask:
‘Then why do they speak of him, though a male, as if a female?’
He should say: ‘Because speech is subrahmaṇyā; on that account.’
They ask:
‘Since the other sacrificial priests perform their priestly duties inside the altar, and the subrahmaṇyā outside the altar,
how does his priestly duty become performed inside the altar?’
‘They throw up the refuse-heap from the altar;
in that he calls out standing on the refuse-heap,’ he should say, ‘on that account.’
They ask:
‘Then why does he call out the subrahmaṇyā standing on the refuse-heap?’
The seers sat for a sacrificial session.
To him among them who was the tallest, they said:
‘Call out the subrahmaṇyā; you will call the gods for us from nearest.’
They thus make him the tallest, and moreover he thereby gratifies the entire altar.
They ask:
‘Why do they drive up a bull as the sacrificial gift for him?’
‘A bull is a male, the subrahmaṇyā is a female; that is a copulative pair,
for the procreation of that copulative pair.’
The āgnīdhra priest offers the pātnīvata oblation in a whisper.
The pātnīvata oblation is semen, and the pouring of semen is done as it were in a whisper.
He does not make the secondary vaṣaṭ-call.
The secondary vaṣaṭ-call is a conclusion;
[he omits it] thinking: ‘Lest I bring the semen to a standstill.’
Unarrested is the fullness of semen.
Therefore he does not make the secondary vaṣaṭ-call.
Sitting in the lap of the neṣṭṛ priest, he consumes [the portion].
The neṣṭṛ priest is the vessel of wives; Agni places semen in the wives for procreation;
through Agni he thus places semen in the wives for procreation.
He is propagated with offspring and cattle who knows thus.
The subrahmaṇyā concludes along with the sacrificial gifts.
Speech is the subrahmaṇyā; the sacrificial gifts are food; and food is nourishment;
thus they establish the sacrifice in speech at the end, they establish it.