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Satapatha Brahmana Part III (SBE41), Julius Eggeling tr. [1894], at sacred-texts.com


5:5:3

THE KESAVAPANÎYA.

THIRD BRÂHMANA.

5:5:3:11. When he has performed the Consecration-ceremony (Abhishekanîya), he does not shave his hair. The reason why he does not shave his hair (is this):--that collected essence of the waters wherewith he is then sprinkled (anointed) is vigour, and it is the hair (of his head) that it reaches first when he is sprinkled; hence were he to shave his hair, he would cause that glory to fall off from him, and would sweep it away: therefore he does not shave his hair.

5:5:3:22. He does not shave his hair for a year 1,--religious observance is of equal measure with the year, hence he does not shave for a year: the Kesavapanîya 2, namely, is a (day of) praise-singing

p. 127

[paragraph continues] (stoma) with the view of the termination of the religious performance.

5:5:3:33. Twenty-onefold is (each stotra of) its Morning-service, seventeenfold (of) the Midday-service, fifteen-fold (of) the Evening-service, together with the Uktha (stotras), the Shodasin, and (the twelve stotras of) the Night-service.

5:5:3:44. The Twilight (hymn) 1 is (performed in the) Trivrit (stoma), and with the Rathantara (tune). For the twenty-onefold (stoma) is he that burns yonder (the sun); from that twenty-onefold one he (the Sacrificer) parts, and descends again to the seventeenfold one; from the seventeenfold one to the

p. 128

fifteenfold one; and from the fifteenfold one he plants his foot on this firm footing, the Trivrit (stoma).

5:5:3:55. The Rathantara is the Prishtha (stotra) 1 of this (sacrifice); for the Rathantara is this (earth): it is on her, as on a firm footing, he thereby plants his feet. It is an Atirâtra (sacrifice),--the Atirâtra is a firm footing: therefore it is an Atirâtra.

5:5:3:66. He only cuts down his hair, but does not shave it; for that collected essence of the waters with which he is sprinkled is vigour, and it is the hair that it reaches first when he is sprinkled. Thus were he to shave off his hair he would cause that glory to fall off from him, and would sweep it away. But when he cuts it down, he attaches that glory to his own self: therefore he only cuts down his hair, but does not shave it. This is for him a religious observance: as long as he lives he does not stand on this (earth with bare feet 2).

5:5:3:77. From the throne-seat he slips into the shoes; and on shoes (he stands), whatever his vehicle may be, whether a chariot or anything else. For verily he who performs the Râgasûya is high above everything here, and everything here is beneath him;--therefore this is for him a religious observance: as long

p. 129

as he lives he does not stand on the earth (with bare feet).


Footnotes

126:1 He is, however, allowed to shave his heard. According to Lâty. Sr. IX, 2, 20 seq., he is to pass his nights during the year in the fire-house on a tiger's skin; he is never to enter the village, and is constantly to keep up the fire. Nor is any one in his kingdom, except a Brâhman, to get his hair cut, and even the horses are to remain unclipped.

126:2 The Kesavapanîya, or 'hair-cutting' (sacrifice), the fourth of the seven Soma-sacrifices enjoined for the inauguration of a king, is to be performed on the full-moon of Gyeshtha (about p. 127 May 1), a twelvemonth after the Abhishekanîya, and is to take the form of the Atirâtra-Gyotishtoma. As usual, the author only alludes to any special peculiarities from the ordinary performance. The ordinary ascending scale of stomas--viz. the Trivrit-stoma for the Bahishpavamâna-stotra, the Pañkadasa for the Âgya-stotras and the Mâdhyandina-pavamâna; the Saptadasa for the Prishtha-stotras, and the Tritîya-pavamâna; and the Ekavimsa-stoma for the Agnishtoma-sâman--prescribed for the twelve stotras of the Agnishtoma (part i, p. 310 seq.), is to be reversed on the present occasion, and the scale of stomas is to be a descending one. The succeeding stotras--viz. (13-15) the three Uktha-stotras; (16) the Shodasin; and (17-28) the three rounds of the night service requiring four stotras each--are likewise to be performed in the Pañkadasa (or fifteen-versed) stoma, employed for the hymns of the evening pressing.

127:1 The Sandhi-stotra, or Twilight hymn, Sâma-veda II, 99-104, is the final stotra of the Atirâtra (part ii, p. 398). Each of the three couplets is, as usual, sung as a triplet, the three thus producing the nine verses of the Trivrit-stoma. The Rathantara tune, to which the couplets are to be sung, is given in the Uhyagâna (Sâma-veda, vol. v, p. 381), but with different verses, viz. Sâma-veda I, 30, 31 (abhi tvâ sûra nonumo), the verses most commonly sung to that famous tune. The chanters' manuals of the Atirâtra (e. g. Ind. Off. MS. 1748) accordingly adapt the tune to the verses here required (enâ vo agnim namaso).

128:1 The first (or Hotri's) Prishtha-stotra at the midday-service is either the Rathantara, Sâma-veda II, 30, 31 (as for instance at the Agnishtoma), or Brihat-sâman II, 159-160 (as at the Ukthya sacrifice). The Brihat is also ordinarily chanted at the Atirâtra, but on the present occasion the Rathantara is to be substituted for it.

128:2 Sâyana interprets this passage so as to imply two separate injunctions:--'For as long as he lives this (cutting down of his hair) is a religious observance for him; and he does not stand on the ground (without shoes).' The repetition in the next paragraph, however, renders this interpretation very improbable.


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