Jaiminīya (Talavakāra) Brāhmaṇa 56.295
English (machine translation) 56.295
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56.295
Then the Uṣṇih and Kakubh [meters].
With the Uṣṇih and Kakubh, Indra hurled the thunderbolt at Vṛtra.
He laid him low.
The Uṣṇih and Kakubh are the thunderbolt.
With the thunderbolt, he who knows this lays low the evil, hateful rival.
Stepping forward on the Kakubh, he struck with the Uṣṇih.
Therefore, the middle syllables of the Kakubh are the most numerous;
for, stepping forward, he compressed its syllables.
Therefore, the final syllables of the Uṣṇih are the most numerous;
for the thunderbolt is heavier at the far end, thinner at the handle.
That Kakubh said: 'I have been dislocated;
stepping forward, he compressed my syllables. Let them employ me first.'
Then the Uṣṇih said: 'Then indeed let them name me first.'
'So be it.'
Between the two, they agreed upon this.
The one chose the prior employment, the other the prior naming.
Therefore, they employ them in this way.
Therefore, it is named 'the Uṣṇih and Kakubh.'
56.295.p1
These [verses] are:
'Flow, most honeyed, these pressed [somas] toward Indra.'
This third pressing is pressed-out dregs, sucked dry, past its prime.
Therefore Indra, feeling disgusted, stepped up away [from it];
for it was as if sucked dry.
For him the gods purified it with 'Flow.'
With 'most honeyed,' they made it honeyed.
'O Soma, for Indra, the intoxication that is wisest,
the intoxication that is most heavenly and great,'
thus in regular order they made it intoxicating for him.
'These pressed [somas] toward Indra,'
this line is as if one were to lead [him] back.
Being purifying verses, they are endowed with faculties and possessed of vital power.
Therefore, these very Uṣṇih and Kakubh verses should be used.
Linked texts (1)
- Jaiminīyabrāhmaṇa — Sanskrit