The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c32.s4.6

v2.c32.s4.6

Various strange messes are prescribed for eating: the least unpleasant may be the mixture of milk, of cow-dung, of bdellion, and salt which is taken at an agricultural offering: the burying of a similar mess could, however, produce equal results.¹ The wife must eat a barley-corn with two beans attached to secure a male² and a strong infant. A peculiarly unpleasant drink, in which the members of a cow form an element, will secure all desires. The common eating of the king and the priest³ and of the bride and bridegroom show that unity of essence was thus produced: it may be conjectured⁴ that the Tānūnaptra ceremony was originally of this kind, though the common eating has disappeared. The idea would then be that he who injured any of those united to him by the common meal would injure himself. The use of anointing is often recorded: an enemy might be injured by anointing sweat on reed arrow-points and offering them.⁵ The king and the sacrificer at the royal consecration and the Sautrāmaṇī were formally anointed and so on. Other means are breathing, as upon the new-born child to give it life, and the putting of substances in the nose to produce offspring.⁶