Kauṣītaki (Śāṅkhāyana) Brāhmaṇa 3.2
English (machine translation) 3.2
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3.2.1
Now, that he mutters before the kindling verses,
3.2.2
thereby he brings about a safe journey.
3.2.3
Having made the sound hiṃ, he recites the kindling verses.
3.2.4
The sound hiṃ is indeed a thunderbolt;
3.2.5
with a thunderbolt he strikes away the evil of the sacrificer.
3.2.6
He makes the sound hiṃ three times.
3.2.7
The thunderbolt is threefold;
3.2.8
thereby he accomplishes the thunderbolt.
3.2.9
By this threefold thunderbolt, the gods drove out the Asuras from these worlds;
3.2.10
in the very same way, the sacrificer, by this threefold thunderbolt, drives out hateful rivals from these worlds.
3.2.11
He recites eleven kindling verses.
3.2.12
The Triṣṭubh has eleven syllables;
3.2.13
Indra belongs to the Triṣṭubh;
3.2.14
thereby he obtains both Indra and Agni.
3.2.15
With three [repetitions] of the first and three of the last, it amounts to fifteen.
3.2.16
Fifteen are the days of the waxing half-month and the waning half-month;
3.2.17
thus through the kindling verses he obtains the waxing and waning half-months.
3.2.18
Moreover, the kindling verses are a thunderbolt;
3.2.19
fifteenfold is the thunderbolt;
3.2.20
with a thunderbolt he strikes away the evil of the sacrificer.
3.2.21
And as to why [he recites] the first three times and the last three times,
3.2.22
thereby he ties the two ends of the sacrifice for firmness, so it does not collapse.
3.2.23
Of them, there are three hundred and sixty syllables.
3.2.24
Three hundred and sixty are the days of the year;
3.2.25
thus through the kindling verses he obtains the days of the year.
3.2.26
They are in the Gāyatrī meter.
3.2.27
Agni belongs to the Gāyatrī, having the Gāyatrī as his meter.
3.2.28
With his own meter he thus praises Agni.
3.2.29
They are conformable.
3.2.30
What in the sacrifice is conformable, that is successful, for the success of the sacrifice.
3.2.31
At the third utterance of the last [verse], he joins the nigada by means of the praṇava:
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