Kauṣītaki (Śāṅkhāyana) Brāhmaṇa 26.2.5_2

26.2.5_2

atha ha sma āha daivodāsiḥ pratardano naimiṣīyāṇām satram upagamya upāsyad ya vicikitsām papraccha yady atikrāntam ulbaṇam sadasyo bodhayeta ṛtvijām vā anyatamo budhyeta katham vo anulbaṇam syāt iti / (soma: chandomāh)

xxvi. 5. Further he used to say this. Daivodāsi Pratardana having gone to a sacrificial season of the Naimiṣīyas and having glided up asked a question on this point of doubt, 'If the priest in the Sadas should call attention to a flaw passed over or any one of the priests should note it, how would you remove the flaw?' They were silent; Alikayu Vācaspata was their Brahman priest; he said 'I know that not; but will ask Jātūkarṇya, the aged teacher of those formerly.' Him he asked, 'If the performer himself should note a flaw passed over or another should call attention to it, how is that flaw to be made flawless? By repetition of the Mantra or by an oblation?' 'The Mantra should be recited again', Jātūkarṇya said. Him Alikayu again asked, 'Should one recite in full the Çastra or recitation or Nigada or offering verse or whatever else it be?' 'So much as is erroneous only need be repeated, a verse, or half verse, or quarter verse, or word, or letter,' Jātūkarṇya replied. But Kauṣītaki used to say, 'He should not repeat the Mantra, nor offer a libation; there is no flaw', for, whatever flaw the Hotṛs make in the sacrifice through inattention, all that Agni as divine Hotṛ makes flawless. This is declared in a Ṛc,