Kauṣītaki (Śāṅkhāyana) Brāhmaṇa 10.7

10.7.1

paryagnim paśum karoti rakṣasām apahatyai /

He carries fire around the animal for the destruction of the demons;

10.7.2

agnir vai rakṣasām apahantā / (paśu: paryagni karaṇa)

Agni is indeed the destroyer of the demons.

10.7.3

triḥ prasavi paryagni karoti /

Three times, sunwise, he carries fire around it;

10.7.4

tad yathā tisro agni puraḥ kuryād evam tat / (paśu: paryagni karaṇa)

that is just as if he were to make three fire-strongholds.

10.7.5

tasmāt punaḥ parīhi ity agnidham brūyāt /

Therefore he should say to the Āgnīdhra: 'Go round again,'

10.7.6

yam icchen na pracyaveta iti / (paśu: paryagni karaṇa)

[for the sacrificer] whom he wishes not to fall away.

10.7.7

daivyāḥ śamitāra uta ca manuṣyā ārabhadhvam upanayata medhyā dura āśāsānā medhapatibhyām medham iti / (paśu: adhrigu praiṣa)

'Divine slaughterers and human! Begin, bring near; praying for the victim, the two sacrificial gates, for the two lords of the sacrifice!'

x. 4. ‘O ye divine slayers and ye human make ready; bring (the victim) to the doors of the sacrifice, ordaining the sacrifice for the two lords of the sacrifice’; regarding this some say, ‘The lord of the sacrifice is the sacrificer.’ ‘What man (is the lord)?’ he should say, ‘the lord of the sacrifice is the deity only.’ ‘Its bends are twenty-six’, (he says); the bends are the ribs. On both sides of the blood he breathes down, (thinking) ‘The Rakṣases have the blood as their share; let me not set away the share of the gods with the share of the Rakṣases.’ It is the Adhrigu (formula). The instruction is ‘Do not mutilate the limbs.’ What is unspoilt is the oblation of the gods; they do not eat the oblation which is spoilt. Nine times does he breathe down in the Adhrigu; the breaths are nine; verily thus he places breaths in the sacrificer, to secure full life in this world and immortality in yonder world. Thrice he utters the concluding verse, to avoid non-recurrence. He says one before; the fathers are one as it were; the victim has as it were the fathers for its deity when it is being offered. In that he says three after, and among the gods (things are) thrice, verily thus he makes it have the gods as its deities, and renews it. Having concluded he mutters inaudibly, ‘Both and he that is not evil’; the slayer of the gods is not evil; to him verily does he hand it over, for he knows the gods.

10.7.8

tadd ha eka āhuḥ /

Here indeed some say:

10.7.9

yajamāno vai medha patir iti /

'The sacrificer is the lord of the sacrifice.'

10.7.10

ko manuṣya iti brūyāt / (paśu: adhrigu praiṣa)

'Who is the mortal?' he should say.

10.7.11

devatā eva medha patir iti /

'The deity alone is the lord of the sacrifice.'

10.7.12

ṣaḍviṃśatir asya vaṅkraya iti /

'Twenty-six are its ribs.'

10.7.13

parśava u ha vai vaṅkrayaḥ /

For the ribs are indeed the ribs.

10.7.14

ubhayato asṛk paryavān iti / (paśu: adhrigu praiṣa)

'Keeping the blood away from both sides.'

10.7.15

asṛg bhājanāni ha vai rakṣāṃsi bhavanti /

For demons are share-holders of the blood.

10.7.16

na id rakṣasām bhāgena daivam bhāgam prasajāni iti / (paśu: adhrigu praiṣa)

[He does so] lest he should mix the divine share with the share of the demons.

10.7.17

sa eṣo adhriguḥ saṃśāsanam eva /

This Adhrigu-formula is indeed an instruction:

10.7.18

aṅgāni mā parikartor iti /

'Do not cut through the limbs!'

10.7.19

yadd ha vā aduṣṭam tad devānām haviḥ / (paśu: adhrigu praiṣa)

For what is unblemished is the oblation of the gods.

10.7.20

na vai te duṣṭam havir adanti /

For they do not eat a spoiled oblation.

10.7.21

navakṛtvo adhrigāv avān iti /

"Nine times, O Adhrigu, downwards," [he says].

10.7.22

nava ime prāṇāḥ / (paśu: adhrigu praiṣa)

Nine indeed are these vital breaths.

10.7.23

prāṇān eva tad yajamāne dadhāti /

He thereby places the vital breaths in the sacrificer,

10.7.24

sarvāyutvāya asmiṃl loke / (paśu: adhrigu praiṣa)

for a full lifespan in this world,

10.7.25

amṛtatvāya amuṣmin /

for immortality in that [world].

10.7.26

triḥ paridadhāty apara aktvāya /

He concludes three times, for non-omission.

10.7.27

sakṛt purastād āha / (paśu: adhrigu praiṣa)

Once at first he speaks [it].

10.7.28

sakṛd iva vai pitaraḥ /

For once only, as it were, are the fathers.

10.7.29

pitṛ devatya iva vai paśur ālabhyamāno bhavati / (paśu: adhrigu praiṣa)

Having the fathers as its deity, as it were, is the victim while being slaughtered.

10.7.30

atha yat trir upariṣṭād āha /

Now, as to why he speaks [it] three times subsequently:

10.7.31

trir vai devatyāḥ /

threefold indeed are the deities.

10.7.32

deva devatyam eva enam tad ayāta yāmānam karoti / (paśu: adhrigu praiṣa)

Thereby he makes it have the gods as deity, not exhausted.