Kauṣītaki (Śāṅkhāyana) Brāhmaṇa 14.2.17

14.2.17

sarveṣām eva chandasām āptyai /

verily (it serves) to obtain all the metres. It is in Anuṣṭubh verses; the Anuṣṭubh is speech; whatever is described by speech, the Anuṣṭubh, all that he obtains. He separates the two Padas; that is a symbol of generation; a man takes apart as it were (the limbs) of his wife. Further, in that he takes apart, that is a symbol of support. Now that between these two Padas is the face of death; if a man say of one who breathes in at this place, ‘He has entered the face of death, he will not live’, so would it be. Therefore without drawing in breath should he pass over; breath is immortality; thus by immortality he crosses death. He utters the Praṇava at the end of the whole half-verse; verily thus he hurls a thunderbolt at his evil rival. They make up ten Gāyatrī verses, for the tenth Pada has eight syllables. The Anuṣṭubh is the Gāyatrī; the metre of Agni is the Gāyatrī; ten cups the Adhvaryu draws at the morning pressing; to nine (verses) they sing with the Bahiṣpavamāna (Stotra), the tenth is the call *hiṅ*; these ten they taking separately make up the Virāj; the Virāj is all proper food; having procured that they deposit it in the sacrificer. Thrice (he recites) with the first, thrice with the last; they make up eleven; the twelfth is the offering verse; the year has twelve months; verily (they serve) to obtain the year. They, recited together, make up sixteen Gāyatrīs; thus the Ājya becomes converted into Gāyatrī verses. He utters as offering verse one to Agni and Indra; verily thus he makes Indra a half-sharer in the pressing. ‘In the offering verse give the deities a portion,’ Kauṣītaki used to say. The Virāj has thirty-three syllables; the gods are thirty-three; he makes the gods sharers in the syllables. ‘O Agni, with Indra, in the home of the generous one,’ leaving over this Pada, he breathes in at the half-verse of the Virāj; the Virāj is prosperity and proper food; thus on the Virāj as prosperity and proper food he finds support. With the second half of the Virāj he utters the *vaṣaṭ* call; verily thus in the world of heaven he places the sacrificer; he utters the second *vaṣaṭ*, for the healing of the libations, for the support of the libations.