Sacred Texts Hinduism Satapatha Brahmana Index Previous Next
Buy this Book at Amazon.com
Satapatha Brahmana Part V (SBE44), Julius Eggeling tr. [1900], at sacred-texts.com
12:3:1:11. 'Seeing that all this threefold universe keeps passing into one another, O Bâlâki, how is it that
these,--to wit, the sacrifice, Man, and Pragâpati,--do not exceed one another?
12:3:1:22. Seeing that the upward Stomas follow the sacrifice, fitting themselves by repetitions with Sâmans, how do they enter man, and how do they become united with the vital airs?
12:3:1:33. The Prâyanîya Atirâtra, the Katurvimsa day, the four Abhiplavas, and the Prishthya (shadaha):how do these enter man, and how do they become united with the vital airs?
12:3:1:44. Fitted out with the Abhigit, the Svarasâmans join the Vishuvat on both sides:--how do these enter man, and how do they become united with the vital airs?
12:3:1:55. Setting out with the Trivrit, fitted out with the (Pañkadasa and) Saptadasa, and ending with the Trayastrimsa; with (the series of stomas increasing) successively by four (syllables 1):--how do these enter man, and how do they become united with the vital airs?'
12:3:1:66. The Trivrit is his head, the Pañkadasa his neck; and the chest, they say, corresponds to the Saptadasa; the Ekavimsa they make the belly, and
the two sides, by means of the Trinava, correspond to the ribs.
12:3:1:77. The Abhiplavas on both sides (of the Vishuvat) are his arms, the Prishthya is the back,--so say the wise; and his spine the Brâhmanas fashion in the year by means of the (series of stomas increasing) successively by four (syllables).
12:3:1:88. The Abhigit and Visvagit are his ears; and his eyes, they say, correspond to the Svarasâmans; the Vishuvat, they say, is the breath of the nostrils; and the Go and Âyus are those two downward breathings.
12:3:1:99. The Dasarâtra they call his limbs, and the Mahâvrata the Brâhmanas fashion (arrange) so as to be the mouth in the year 1;--the Supreme Self has entered into that year endowed with all stomas and with all sâmans: having fashioned him alike with the body, the sage is seated free from pain 2 on the heights of the ruddy one (the sun).
166:1 The Trivrit, or nine-versed stoma, is, however, followed by the Pañkadasa, or fifteen-versed stoma--the thirteen-versed form not being in ordinary use--and these are succeeded by the Saptadasa (17), Ekavimsa (21), &c. Possibly, however, this last sentence may refer to the six days of the Prishthya-shadaha for which the stomas consisting of 9, 25, 17, 21, 27 and 33 verses respectively are used. On the Abhigit day, each of the first four stomas is used in succession for three stotras, the four hymn-forms thus making up the twelve stotras of the Agnishtoma. On the Visvagit day, on the other hand, only three stomas are used--the Trivrit, Pañkadasa, and Saptadasa--four stotras being assigned to each of these three hymn-forms.
167:1 Though the Mahâvrata day is actually the last day but one of the one year's sacrificial session, whilst the Katurvimsa day is the second, these two days mark really the end and beginning of the year, whilst the nominal first and last days of the sessional performance may be considered as consisting of mere preliminary and concluding (winding-up) rites. The above symbolic identification of the Mahâvrata with the mouth of Agni-Pragâpati, the Year, might thus lead one to suppose (as, indeed, is done by Prof. Hillebrandt, Die Sonnwendfeste in Alt-Indien, p. 11) that if two such annual sessions were immediately to succeed each other, the Mahâvrata and Katurvimsa would fall on one and the same day. The Mahâvrata, representing (at least symbolically) the winter-solstice, would thus mark both the end and the beginning of two successive solar periods.
167:2 Literally, with unborn pain (or, with the pain of one unborn).