A History of Indian Literature v1.c8.s2.135

v1.c8.s2.135

To these sacrificial songs belong among others also the so-called Āprīsūktas, "propitiatory hymns" (*i.e.* hymns for the propitiation or reconciliation of certain deities, demons, and certain personified objects connected with the sacrifice). These hymns, of which there are ten in the Ṛgveda-Saṁhitā, have a quite definite use at the animal sacrifice. They all consist of eleven or twelve verses, and Agni is invoked in them under various names, that he may bring the gods to the sacrifice. In the fourth or fifth verse the priests are invited to strew about the sacred grass, on which the gods are to sit down in order to receive the sacrificial gifts. Also certain goddesses are regularly invoked in the hymns, and the penultimate verse generally contains an invocation to the stake which serves in the binding of the sacrificial animal, *e.g.* "O divine tree, let the sacrificial meal go to the gods."