Kauṣītaki (Śāṅkhāyana) Brāhmaṇa 10.3.1

10.3.1

añjanti tvām adhvare devayanta ity aktavatīm abhirūpām ajyamānāya anvāha /

x. 2. For it when being anointed he recites the appropriate (verse) containing the word ‘anoint’, ‘They anoint thee at the sacrifice, pious men’. For it when being placed erect he recites (verses) containing the words ‘erect’ and ‘up’, ‘Rise erect, O lord of the forest’, ‘Rising before the kindled’, ‘Born he is born in the fairness of the days’, ‘Aloft to our aid’, and ‘Aloft do thou guard us from tribulation with thy ray’. He concludes with (a verse) containing the word ‘covered round’, ‘The youth, well clad, covered round, hath come.’ He recites appropriate verses; what in the sacrifice is appropriate, that is perfect; verily (it serves) for the perfection of the sacrifice. He recites seven (verses); the metres are seven; verily (they serve) to obtain all the metres. (He recites) the first thrice and the last thrice; they make up eleven; the Triṣṭubh has eleven syllables; cattle are connected with the Triṣṭubh; verily (they serve) to obtain cattle. So is (the ceremony) in the case of one victim and one post. If at one post they should deal with eleven victims, then in the case of each victim the Adhvaryu gives directions, in the case of each victim there is the same concluding (verse), ‘The youth, well clad, covered round, hath come’; it is (recited) for it as it is being covered round. ‘So in the case of one post, but how in the case of eleven posts?’ (they ask). The same seven verses he should recite for them up to ten; in the case of the last post they set up he should apply the remainder of the hymn, before the Pragātha, ‘Then like horns of the horned they appeared.’ Verily all he accompanies; there is the same concluding verse, ‘The youth, well clad, covered round, hath come’; it is (recited) for it as it is being covered round. ‘It’, they say, ‘he should throw along; the post is the sacrificer; the Āhavanīya is the world of heaven; verily thus he makes him go to the world of heaven; that is heavenly’. But they say ‘Let it stand; in that this is the place of the splinter of the post, the Asuras and the Rakṣases could drink after if this were not so; therefore this (post) should stand erect as a thunderbolt on the place of sacrifice, smiting away the Asuras and the Rakṣases, and repressing them, and also guarding the sacrifice and the sacrificer.’ One is suited for the post, one is rich in wood, one is fitted for a hole. That which has its rind downwards, that is fitted for a hole; such a one he should not wish; that which has its rind pointing up, and is rich in wood,