Kauṣītaki (Śāṅkhāyana) Brāhmaṇa 10.7
English (machine translation) 10.7
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10.7.1
He carries fire around the animal for the destruction of the demons;
10.7.2
Agni is indeed the destroyer of the demons.
10.7.3
Three times, sunwise, he carries fire around it;
10.7.4
that is just as if he were to make three fire-strongholds.
10.7.5
Therefore he should say to the Āgnīdhra: 'Go round again,'
10.7.6
[for the sacrificer] whom he wishes not to fall away.
10.7.7
'Divine slaughterers and human! Begin, bring near; praying for the victim, the two sacrificial gates, for the two lords of the sacrifice!'
10.7.8
Here indeed some say:
10.7.9
'The sacrificer is the lord of the sacrifice.'
10.7.10
'Who is the mortal?' he should say.
10.7.11
'The deity alone is the lord of the sacrifice.'
10.7.12
'Twenty-six are its ribs.'
10.7.13
For the ribs are indeed the ribs.
10.7.14
'Keeping the blood away from both sides.'
10.7.15
For demons are share-holders of the blood.
10.7.16
[He does so] lest he should mix the divine share with the share of the demons.
10.7.17
This Adhrigu-formula is indeed an instruction:
10.7.18
'Do not cut through the limbs!'
10.7.19
For what is unblemished is the oblation of the gods.
10.7.20
For they do not eat a spoiled oblation.
10.7.21
"Nine times, O Adhrigu, downwards," [he says].
10.7.22
Nine indeed are these vital breaths.
10.7.23
He thereby places the vital breaths in the sacrificer,
10.7.24
for a full lifespan in this world,
10.7.25
for immortality in that [world].
10.7.26
He concludes three times, for non-omission.
10.7.27
Once at first he speaks [it].
10.7.28
For once only, as it were, are the fathers.
10.7.29
Having the fathers as its deity, as it were, is the victim while being slaughtered.
10.7.30
Now, as to why he speaks [it] three times subsequently:
10.7.31
threefold indeed are the deities.
10.7.32
Thereby he makes it have the gods as deity, not exhausted.
Translations (1)
- Rigveda Brahmanas: The Aitareya and Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇas of the Rigveda (HOS 25) — Arthur Berriedale Keith 1920, English
Linked texts (1)
- Kauṣītakibrāhmaṇa — Kauṣītaki, Sanskrit