Jaiminīya (Talavakāra) Brāhmaṇa 2-8.349

2-8.349

This is the year itself, layered on both sides. In the middle of it is the seventeenth day: on that very day one should undertake it. Prajāpati is seventeen-fold; the Mahāvrata belongs to Prajāpati. Prajāpati is the middle abode of the deities. That they may attain Prajāpati where his abode is among the deities; from the middle indeed, eaten food invigorates. In that they undertake it thus, they conclude having struck away hunger from the middle. Regarding this they say: 'Indeed, those who undertake these nights climb onto what is superior.' In that the stomas of the pṛṣṭha-bearing six-day period are turned backward beyond, it is for appeasement, for avoiding misfortune, for benevolence, for peace. They conclude from the Jyotis day, in accordance with the stated Brāhmaṇa. Indeed, that meter which is the Gāyatrī—if they were to conclude from the Gāyatrī, they would be liable to wander without a support. He should tell the Hotṛ to recite after the Vaiśvadeva [śastra] the verse addressed to Savitṛ: 'Savitṛ has supported the earth with props.' And thus they conclude from a firm, established [base]. The concluding Atirātra belongs to Vaiśvānara; for ahīna soma sacrifices conclude with Vaiśvānara.