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Satapatha Brahmana Part V (SBE44), Julius Eggeling tr. [1900], at sacred-texts.com
13:3:1:11. Pragâpati's eye swelled; it fell out: thence the horse was produced; and inasmuch as it swelled (asvayat), that is the origin and nature of the horse (asva). By means of the Asvamedha the gods restored it to its place; and verily he who performs the Asvamedha makes Pragâpati complete, and he (himself) becomes complete; and this, indeed, is the atonement for everything, the remedy for everything. Thereby the gods redeem all sin, yea, even the slaying of a Brahman 1 they thereby redeem; and he who performs the Asvamedha redeems all sin, he redeems the slaying of a Brahman.
13:3:1:22. It was the left eye of Pragâpati that swelled: hence they cut off the (meat) portions from the left.
side of the horse, and from the right side of other victims.
13:3:1:33. There is a rattan mat, for the horse was produced from the womb of the waters, and the rattan springs from the water: he thus brings it in connection with its own (maternal) womb.
13:3:1:44. The Katushtoma 1 is the form of chanting (on
the first day); for a bee tore out 1 (a piece of) the horse's thigh, and by means of the Katushtoma form of chanting the gods restored it: thus when there is the Katushtoma mode of chanting, it is for the completeness of the horse. The last day is an Atirâtra with all the Stomas 2--with a view to his obtaining and securing everything, for an Atirâtra with all the Stomas is everything, and the Asvamedha is everything.
328:1 See XIII, 3, 5, 3 seq.
329:1 The term Katushtoma originally apparently means a sacrificial performance, or succession of chants, in which four different Stomas, or hymn-forms, are used. Hence, in Tândya-Br. VI, 3, 16, the name is applied to the ordinary Agnishtoma, for its twelve Stotras, or chants, require the first four normal Stomas (Trivrit, Pañkadasa, Saptadasa, Ekavimsa). The term has, however, assumed the special meaning of a hymnic performance, the different Stomas of which (begin with the four-versed one, and) successively increase by four verses (cf. XIII, 5, 1, 1). In this sense, two different forms of Katushtoma are in use, one being applicable to an Agnishtoma, the other to a Shodasin, sacrifice. Whilst this latter form requires only four different Stomas (of 4, 8, 12, 16 verses resp.) and thus combines the original meaning of 'katushtoma' with its special meaning, the Agnishtoma form, used on the first of the three days of the Asvamedha, requires six Stomas, ascending from the four-versed up to the twenty-four-versed one. In regard to this latter occasion, Sâyana on Tândya-Br. XXI, 4, 1, curiously enough, seems to take 'katushtoma' in its original senses, since he speaks of this first day of the Asvamedha as an Agnishtoma with four Stomas, beginning with Trivrit; whilst on ib. XIX, 5, 1 seq. he gives the correct explanation. As to the distribution of the six Stomas over the chants of the first day, see XIII, 5, 1, 1. The katushtoma has, however, another peculiarity, which, in Lâty. S. VI, 8, 1 (or at least by the commentator Agnisvâmin thereon), is taken as that which has given its name to this form of chanting, viz. that each stotra performed in it is chanted in four, instead of the ordinary three, paryâyas or turns of verses (see part ii, p. 350 note). The Bahishpavamâna-stotra is to be performed on three anushtubh verses (consisting each of four octosyllabic pâdas) which, however, by taking each time three pâdas to make up a verse, are transformed into four verses, constituting at the same time the four paryâyas of the Stotra. As regards the exact p. 330 text to be used there seems to be some doubt, Sâmav. S. II, 366-8 (pavasva vâgasâtaye) being mentioned by Sâyana on Tândya-Br. XXI, 4, 5; whilst on XIX, 5, 2 he gives S. V. II, 168-70 (ayam pûshâ rayir bhagah) as the text to be used--but apparently only when the performance is that of an ekâha (one day's sacrifice) proper, instead of one of the days of an âhîna sacrifice, as is the case in the three days’ Asvamedha. As regards the Âgya-stotras to be chanted on the eight-versed Stoma, the text of each of them consists of three gâyatrî-verses: these are to be chanted in four turns (paryâya) of two verses each, viz. either 1 and 2, 2 and 3, 1 and 2, 2 and 3;--or 1 and 1, 1 and 2, 2 and 2, 3 and 3;--(or 1 and 1, 1 and 1, 2 and 2, 3 and 3;--or 1 and 1, 2 and 2, 2 and 2, 3 and 3). By similar manipulations the subsequent Stomas are formed.
330:1 Or, wounded, as Sâyana takes 'â brihat,' on Tândya-Br. XXI, 4, 4 (vranam kakâra).
330:2 The Atirâtra sarvastoma is arranged in such a way that the six principal Stomas are used successively first in the ascending, and then again in the descending, or reversed, order as is explained in XIII, 5, 3, 10.