The Arctic Home in the Vedas c11.15

c11.15

Here it is distinctly mentioned that the cows first obtained the fulfilment of their desire in ten months, and a number of them left off sacrificing further. Those, that remained and sacrificed for two months more, are called ‘distrustful,’ and they had to suffer for their distrust by forfeiting the horns they had obtained. It is, therefore, clear, that this yearly Sattra, which in the Samhitâs and Brâhmaṇas is a Sattra of twelve months in imitation of the sun’s yearly course, was once completed in ten months. Why should it be so? Why was a Sattra, which is annual in its very nature and which now lasts for twelve months, once completed in ten months? How did the sacrificers obtain all the religious merit of a twelve months' sacrifice by sacrificing for ten months only? These are very important questions; but the Aitareya Brâhmaṇa neither raises them, nor gives us any clue to their solution. If we, however, go back to the Taittirîya Saṃhitâ, the oldest and most authoritative work on the sacrificial ceremonies, we find the questions distinctly raised. The Saṃhitâ expressly states that the Gavâm-ayanam can be completed in ten or twelve months, according to the choice of the sacrificer; but it plainly acknowleges its inability to assign any reason how a Sattra of twelve months could be completed in ten, except the fact that "it is an old practice sanctioned by immemorial usage." These passages are very important for our purpose, and I give below a close translation of each. The first occurs in the Taittirîya Saṃhitâ (VII, 5, 1, 1-2)¹, and may be rendered as follows:—