Kauṣītaki (Śāṅkhāyana) Brāhmaṇa 10: ADHYĀYA X

Rigveda Brahmanas: The Aitareya and Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇas of the Rigveda (HOS 25) 10

Language: English

ADHYĀYA X

x. 1. The sacrificial post is a thunderbolt. In that they erect the post on the fast day, verily thus with a thunderbolt they smite away the evil of the sacrificer. It should not be bent, as it were, for to be bent in the stomach is the symbol of one hungry. Again it should be turned towards the Āhavanīya; that is the symbol of one well fed; his wives are not like to be hungry, who makes a post so formed. One of Palāça wood he should make who desires splendour, of Bilva wood he who desires proper food, and of Khadira he who desires heaven. It should be three cubits with the symbol of these worlds, four cubits with the symbol of cattle, five cubits with the symbol of the Paṅkti, six cubits with the symbol of the seasons, seven cubits with the symbol of the metres, eight cubits with the symbol of the Gāyatrī, nine cubits with the symbol of the Bṛhatī, ten cubits with the symbol of the Virāj, eleven cubits with the symbol of the Triṣṭubh, twelve cubits with the symbol of the Jagatī. These measures are suitable forms for the post. One suitable form should he produce and make the post. They say, however, ‘One should not measure the post; let it be unmeasured; the measured by the measured one wins; the unmeasured by the unmeasured; (therefore it serves) to win the incommensurable.’ ‘Both for the post and the altar (he should choose) the size which he considers in his mind suitable’, (Kauṣītaki) used to say. Mind is Prajāpati; Prajāpati is the sacrifice; the sacrifice itself rejoices in the sacrifice when mind in mind. The post in the Vājapeya alone is determined as of seventeen cubits. It is placed in with eight corners, for the attainment of all desires. Then they wash it; thus what of it has here been harshly treated as it were with the axe and hewn as it were, that of it verily he makes whole, that he heals. Then they anoint it; thus the waters which are in man, these they place in it; well anointed himself should the sacrificer make it; so does the sacrificer become not rough as it were.

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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,

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is that connected with man; he may use it if he desires; the tree, whose rind grows from left to right in accord with the course of the sun, is that suited for the post and is heavenly. (The tree), which stands alone, unrivalled, or is covered up to the root with shoots, is not bare; it is connected with cattle; it one desiring cattle should use.

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x. 3. He who is consecrated enters the jaws of Agni and Soma; in that on the fast day he offers a victim to Agni and Soma, this is a buying off of himself; with this buying off of himself he becomes free from debt and then sacrifices. So he should not eat of it, for it is man in counterfeit. But they say 'Every oblation is a buying off of oneself; he would not eat of any oblation, if he were not willing to eat because it is a buying off of oneself. Therefore at will should one eat.' Agni and Soma are day and night; in that by day they proceed with (the offering of) the omentum, thereby is day pleased. In that the offering to Agni is carried out during the night, thereby is the night as connected with Soma pleased. 'That is the final setting free of day and night' (they say); by the sacrifice are day and night set free; they do not obtain him, who knowing thus offers this victim. They say 'It should be two coloured; white and black with the symbols of day and night; or white and red with the symbols of Agni and Soma.' There are eleven fore-offerings and eleven after-offerings, and eleven supplementary offerings; these are thirty-three; all the gods are thirty-three; verily (they serve) to delight all the gods. The fore-offerings are expirations, the after-offerings inspirations; therefore are they alike, for the expirations and the inspirations are similar. They say 'Why does he sacrifice with a Ṛc in the fore-offerings and with the opening words only in the after-offerings?' 'The fore-offerings are seed to be poured, the after-offerings are seed to be deposited; therefore with a Ṛc he sacrifices in the fore-offerings, and with the opening words in the after-offerings.' In that he says the last whole, verily thus he places the sacrificer in the world of heaven. He invokes with the Āprī verses; with the whole self, with the whole mind, he gathers together the sacrifice, who sacrifices. The self of him becomes empty as it were; he fills it up for him with these (verses). In that he fills it up, therefore are they

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called Āprīs (fillers). He surrounds the animal with fire, to smite away the Rakṣases; Agni is the smiter away of the Rakṣases; he carries the fire round thrice from left to right; that is as if Agni were to put three forts. Therefore, ‘Go round again’ he should say to the Agnīdh, if he desire of a man, ‘May he not fall away.’

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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.

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x. 5. Then he recites (the verses) accompanying the drops; verily with them he makes the drops suitable for Agni. These are the invitatory verses for them, these the offering verses. Therefore they are appropriate. Having proceeded with the (offering to the) calls of Hail! they proceed with the (offering of the) omentum; verily thus they make the fore-offerings sharers in the victim. He should not utter speech between the (offering to the) calls of Hail! and the (offering of the) omentum,

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(thinking) ‘The calls of Hail! are the breaths; the omentum is the body; let me not separate the breaths and the body by anything.’ In that the invitatory verses of the victim for Agni and Soma are Anuṣṭubh verses, (it is because) the Anuṣṭubh is the Gāyatrī and the metre of Agni is the Gāyatrī; in that the offering verses are Triṣṭubh verses, it is because the Triṣṭubh is the metre of the lordly power, and Soma is the lordly power. Thus according to the metre he delights the two deities. During the offering of the victim a cake is offered; the cake is the sap of animals; verily thus he makes (the victim) full of sap and fit for sacrifice. Where a cake in connection with the victim is offered, the Sviṣṭakṛt of the cake (offering) is permanent; the Sviṣṭakṛt is Agni (the unmoved); therefore it becomes permanent. Having recited (a verse) of Viçvāmitra, as the invitatory verse for the cake Sviṣṭakṛt, he recites (a verse) of Viçvāmitra as the offering verse; the cake is the continuity of the sacrifice; Viçvāmitra is speech; by speech the sacrifice is continued.

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x. 6. Then he recites the Manotā. All the deities gather towards the victim as it is offered, (thinking) ‘He will utter my name; he will utter my name.’ The minds of all these are woven in the victim; these he delights herein; so it is not in vain that all these have assembled together. They say ‘Since the victims are offered to diverse deities, then why does he accompany that for Agni alone?’ ‘Three are the Manotās of the gods; Agni is the Manotā of the gods, for in him the minds of the gods are woven. Moreover, speech is the Manotā of the gods, for in it are their minds woven. Moreover, the cow is the Manotā of the gods, for in her are their minds woven. All the Manotās are Agni; in Agni the Manotās unite; therefore he accompanies that for Agni only’ (is the answer). They make up thirteen; thirteen are the cuttings of the victim; these he accompanies. (He recites) the first thrice and the last thrice; they make up seventeen; Prajāpati is seventeenfold; that rite is beneficial which is commensurate with Prajāpati. He recites seventeen kindling verses; Prajāpati is seventeenfold; that rite is beneficial which is

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commensurate with Prajāpati. When the victim is offered, then the lord of the forest is unmoved; the lord of the forest is Agni, he bestows the oblation on the gods; therefore he becomes unmoved; he also has milk as his portion; so Agni becomes a sharer in all the oblations. They say ‘Since the gods possess the solid , then why does the lord of the forest possess the liquid as his share?’ ‘The gods shared the solid of the sacrifice, the fathers the liquid; the victim has, as it were, the fathers as its deities; the milk has the fathers as its deities; therefore is it’, he should reply. They say ‘Why in the Soma sacrifice do they offer two libations for the choosing (of priests), and not in the Haviryajña?’ ‘The Haviryajña is an incomplete sacrifice; the Soma sacrifice is a complete sacrifice; therefore at the Soma sacrifice alone do they offer the two libations for the choosing and not at the Haviryajña’ (is the answer). He offers in the first case with the call of Hail! ‘Acceptable to speech may I become, acceptable to the lord of speech; O divine speech, what of thy speech is sweetest, in that us may he to-day place; hail to Sarasvatī.’ Thus he releases speech; therefore hence onwards speech being released supports the sacrifice; with the mind (he accompanies) the second (libation); for by mind is mind delighted.

Linked texts (1)

Kauṣītakibrāhmaṇa — Kauṣītaki, Sanskrit