History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c52.10.3

v3.c52.10.3

A kṣatriya (*rāja-putra* according to Āp.) shoots an arrow from the space between the cātvāla and utkara and notes the spot where it falls, from which he shoots an arrow a second time. This is done seventeen times. On the spot where the arrow falls at the 17th shooting, he plants a post of udumbara wood as the goal for the chariot race (Āp. XVIII. 3. 12 and Kāt. XIV. 3. 1–11 and 16–17). When the race starts, the brahmā priest fixes an udumbara chariot-wheel (having seventeen spokes according to Kāt. V. 12. 11) on an axle (or udumbara post navel-high) implanted on a spot between the cātvāla and the utkara (or near the utkara) and ascends on that wheel with 'at the impulse of God Savitṛ may I win vāja (vigour, food or race) with the help of Bṛhaspati, the winner of vāja' (Āp. XVIII. 4. 8, Kāt. XIV. 3. 12 which mentions Vāj. S. IX. 10). When the wheel is revolved from left to right (it is revolved thrice) the brahmā chants the Vāji-sāman²⁶³⁹ (Āp. XVIII. 4. 11, Āśv. IX. 9. 8. Lāṭ. V. 12. 14). According to Lāṭ. (V. 12. 13) the brahmā only rests his arms on the wheel. The yajamāna occupies the chariot on which mantras were recited and the adhvaryu (or his pupil) also gets into it to instruct the yajamāna to repeat the Vedic formulae he has to utter. Other persons (called vājasṛt) join in the race and sit in the other sixteen chariots and a kṣatriya or vaiśya sits in one of them and the race starts with speed.