Sacred Books of the East
T4i]
JSonfcon
Henry Frowde
Oxford University Press Warehouse Amen Corner, E.C.
MACMILLAN & CO., 66 FIFTH AVENUE.
Sacred Books of the East
Translated
By Various Oriental Scholars
And Edited by
F. Max Muller
Vol. Xli
At the Clarendon Press
\_All rights reserved']
©;efotf>
Printed At the Clarendon Press
By Horace Hart, Printer to the University
Satapatha-Brahmana
According to the Text of the
MADHYANDINA school
Translated by
Julius Eggeling
Part Iii
Books V, Vi, and Vii
At the Clarendon Press
[All rights reserved]
CONTENTS.
Introduction .........
r-AGF.
fi
FIFTH KANDA.
A. The Vag-apeya ........
The Cups (graha) of Soma .
The Cups of Sura
Animal Victims ....
Consecration .....
Chariot-race ....
Apti and K/zpti-formulas
The Mounting of the Sacrificial Post b
y the Sacri-
ficer and his Wife .
The Seating on the Throne-seat .
Va^a-prasavaniya-oblations
Uggiti (victory)-formulas
B. The Ra^asuya, or Inauguration of a King
Preliminary offerings .
Seasonal-offerings
Indraturiya-oblation
Trishaffzyukta-offerings
Ratna-havi/^shi, or Jewel-offerings
Offering to Soma and Rudra
Offering to Mitra and Brz'haspati .
Abhishe^aniya, or Consecration Ceremony
Offerings to the Divine Quickeners (devasu), viz.
Savitrz' Satyaprasava, Agni Grzhapat
Soma Vanaspati, Brzfiaspati Va£, Indra Gye-
sh//^a, Rudra Pa^upati ....
Mitra Satya, Varu?za Dharmapati .
Preparation of the Consecration Water .
Partha-oblations ....
CONTENTS.
Investing of the King with the Consecration Garments, the Bow and Arrows
Avid-formulas
Ascending of the Quarters .
Stepping on the Tiger-skin .
The Sprinkling (Abhisheka)
The Cow-raid .....
Rathavimo^aniya-oblations
Game of Dice .....
The Passing Round of the Sacrificial Sword Da^apeya .......
Sa^sr/p-oblations ....
PaMabila-oblations ....
Prayug-aw havi^zshi (Oblations to the Teams) Kcravapaniya ......
Sautramam ......
Page
Ioi
no
ii5
SIXTH KA.JVBA.
Agni-^ayana, or Building of the Fire-altar .
Creation of the Universe ....
Animal Sacrifices
Layers and Bricks of the Altar
Savitra Libations .....
The Search for Agni (the Lump of Clay)
The Digging
The Making of the Fire-pan (ukhd)
Diksha, or Initiation
The Raising and Carrying of the Ukhya Agni The Fashioning of the Embryonic Agni
The Vishwu-strides
Vatsapra
The Driving- about of the Ukhya Agni .
SEVENTH KA7VZ>A.
Agni-^ayana (continued).
Garhapatya-hearth
Pouring thereon of the Ukhya Agni
Altar of Nirr/ti ....
Cont
Ent^
Page
Preparation of the (Ahavaniya) Fire-altar . . -325
Ploughing, Watering, and Sowing of Ground
Bricks of the First Layer .....
Lotus-leaf ....
Gold Plate .
Gold Man .
Svayam-atrzwwa Brick .
Durva Plant
Dviya^us Bricks .
Reta^si^ Bricks .
Viyva^yotis Brick
Tfo'tavya Bricks .
Asha^a Brick .
Tortoise
Mortar and Pestle
Fire-pan
Victims' Heads .
Apasya Bricks
.Oandasya Bricks
Corrections
Plan of Fire-altar
Transliteration of Oriental Alphabets adopted for the Trans- lations of the Sacred Books of the East
INTRODUCTION.
1 See Katy. Si. XIV, i, 7 ; La/y. St. VIII, 11, 7-1 1.
Xll SATAPATHA-BRAHMAiVA.
The preceding Kanda. was chiefly taken up with a detailed discussion of the simplest form of a complete Soma-sacrifice, the Agnish/oma, serving as the model for all other kinds of one-day (ekaha) Soma-sacrifices ; and it also adverted incidentally to some of the special features of such of the remaining fundamental forms of Soma-sacrifice as are required for the performance of sacri- ficial periods of from two to twelve pressing-days — the so- called ahina-sacrifices — as well as for the performance of the sacrificial sessions (sattra) lasting from twelve days upwards. As the discussion of the Va^apeya presupposes a knowledge of several of those fundamental forms of Soma-sacrifice, it may not be out of place here briefly to recapitulate their characteristic features.
The ekaha, or * one-day ' sacrifices, are those Soma- sacrifices which have a single pressing-day, consisting of three services (or pressings, savana) — the morning, midday, and third (or evening) services — at each of which certain cups of Soma-liquor are drawn, destined to be ultimately consumed by the priests and sacrificer, after libations to the respective deities have been duly made therefrom. At certain stated times during the performance, hymns (stotra) are chanted by the Udgatrzs ; each of which is followed by an appropriate recitation (.yastra) of Vedic hymns or detached verses, by the Hotri priest or one of his assistants. An integral part of each Soma-sacrifice, moreover, is the animal sacrifice (pa^ubandhu) ; the number of victims vary- ing according to the particular form of sacrifice adopted. In the exposition of the Agnish/oma, the animal offering actually described (part ii, p. 162 seq.) is that of a he-goat to Agni and Soma, intended to serve as the model for all other animal sacrifices. This description is inserted in the Brahma^a among the ceremonies of the day preceding the Soma-day ; whilst, in the actual performance, the slaughtering of the victim, or victims, takes place during the morning service, and the meat-oblations are made during the evening service, of the pressing-day. The ritualistic works enumerate a considerable number of ' one- day' sacrifices, all of them with special features of their
INTRODUCTION. Xlll
own ; most of these sacrifices are, however, merely modifica- tions of one or other of the fundamental forms of ekahas. Of such forms or sa/zzsthas — literally, ' completions,' being so called because the final chants or ceremonies are their most characteristic features — the ritual system recognises seven, viz. the Agnish/oma; Atyagnish/oma, Ukthya, Sho^a^in, Va^apeya \ Atiratra, and Aptoryama.
The Agnish/oma, the simplest and most common form of Soma-sacrifice, requires the immolation of a single victim, a he-goat to Agni ; and the chanting of twelve stotras, viz. the Bahish-pavamana and four A^ya-stotras at the morning service ; the Madhyandina-pavamana and four PrzshMa-stotras at the midday service ; and the Trz'tlya (or Arbhava)-pavamana and the Agnish/oma-saman at the evening service. It is this last-named chant, then, that gives its name to this sacrifice which, indeed, is often explained as the 'Agnish/oma-sa;/2Stha>£ kratu^2/ or the sacrifice concluding with 'Agni's praise.' The term 'saman,' in its narrow technical sense, means a choral melody, a hymn- tune, without reference to the words set thereto. Not unfrequently, however, it has to be taken in the wider sense of a chanted verse or hymn (triplet), a chorale ; but, though the distinction is evidently of some importance for the ritual, it is- not always easy to determine the particular sense in which the term is meant to be applied, viz. whether a specified saman is intended to include the original text set to the respective tune, or whether some other verses to which that tune has been adapted are intended. In the case of the Agnish/oma-saman, however, the word ' saman ' cannot be taken in its narrow acceptation, but the term has to be understood in the sense of ' a hymn chanted in praise of Agni.' The words commonly used for this chant, are the first two verses of Rig-veda S. VI, 48, a hymn indeed
1 In this enumeration the Va^-apeya is often placed between the Atiratra and Aptoryama ; e.g. La/y. V, 4, 24.
2 Thus on Sat. Br. V, 1, 3, 1 Agneyam agnish/oma alabhate, Saya/za re- marks, ' agni/z stuyate * sminn ity agnish/omo nama sama, tasmin vishayabhuta agneyam alabhate, etena paJumUsmin va^apeyesgnish/omasawsthaw kratum evanushMitavan bhavati.' In IV, 2, 4, 9 seq., also, the term 'agnishfoma' would seem to apply to the final chant rather than to the whole sacrifice.
XIV SATAPATHA-BRAHMAiVA.
admirably adapted for the purpose of singing Agni's praises. For the first verse, beginning ' ya^a-ya^Tza vo agnaye,' the chief tune-book, the Gramageya-gana, has preserved four different tunes, all of which are ascribed to the Rzshi Bharadva^a : one of them has, however, come to be gene- rally accepted as the Ya^aya^Tziya-tune kcit k&xnv, and has been made use of for this and numerous other triplets 1; whilst the other tunes seem to have met with little favour, not one of them being represented in the triplets arranged for chanting in stotras, as given in the U ha and Uhya-ganas. Neither the Ya^zaya^Tziya-tune, nor its original text, is however a fixed item in the chanting of the Agnishfoma- saman. Thus, for the first two verses of Rig-veda VI, 48, the Va^apeya-sacrifice 2 substitutes verses nine and ten of the same hymn, and these are chanted, not to the Ya^a- ya^iya, but to the Varavantiya-tune, originally composed for, and named after, Rig-veda I, 27, 1 (S. V. I, 17; ed. Calc. I, p. 131) ' asvam na tva varavantam.'
The Ukthya- sacrifice requires the slaughtering of a second victim, a he-goat to Indra and Agni ; and to the twelve chants of the Agnishfoma it adds three more, the so-called Uktha-stotras, each of which is again followed by an Uktha-^astra recited by one of the Hotrakas, or assistants of the Hotrz. As the evening service of the Agnish/oma had only two ^astras, both recited by the Hotrz, the addition of the three ^astras of the Hotrakas would, in this respect, equalize the evening to the morning and midday savanas. The word ' uktha ' is explained by later lexicographers either as a synonym of ' saman,' or as a kind of saman 3 ; but it is not unlikely that that meaning of the word was directly derived from this, the most common, use of the word in the term ' uktha- stotra.' The etymology of the word 4, at all events, would point to the
1 Each Saman-tune is usually chanted thrice, either each time on a special verse of its own, or so that, by certain repetitions of words, two verses are made to suffice for the thrice-repeated tune.
2 So also does the Agnish/ut ekaha, cf. Ta;zdya Br. XVII, 5, 7.
3 Saya/za, to Sat Br. IV, 3, 3, 2, explains it by ' stotra ; ' but see IV, 2, 3, 6-9 where it undoubtedly refers to the recited verses (rz/e), not to the saman.
4 Viz. from root ( Yak ' to speak. I cannot see the necessity for taking
Introduction. Xv
meaning 'verse, hymn,' rather than to that of ctune' or c chant ; ' but, be that as it may, the word is certainly used in the former sense in the term ' mahad-uktha,' the name of the ' great recitation ' of a thousand brz hati verses *, being the HotWs i-astra in response to the Mahavrata-stotra at the last but one day of the Gavam-ayana. And, besides, at the Agnish/oma a special ' ukthya ' cup of Soma-juice is drawn both at the morning and midday pressings, but not at the evening savana. This cup, which is eventually shared by the three principal Hotrakas between them, is evidently intended as their reward for the recitation of their ' ukthas.' At the Ukthya-sacrifice, as might have been expected, the same cup is likewise drawn at the evening service. Though it may be taken for granted, therefore, that ' uktha ' was an older term for ^astra,' it still seems somewhat strange that this term should have been applied specially to the additional ^astras and stotras of the Ukthya-sacrifice. Could it be that the name of the additional Ukthya-cup, as a distinctive feature of this sacrifice, suggested the name for the ^astras and stotras with which that cup was connected, or have we rather to look for some such reason as Ait. Br. VI, 13 might seem to indicate ? This passage contains a discussion re- garding the different status of the Hotrakas who have ukthas of their own, and those who have not ; and it then proceeds to consider the difference that exists between the two first and the third savanas of the Agnish/oma in respect of the Hotrakas' ukthas. It is clear that here also, the term * uktha ' can hardly be taken otherwise than as referring to
' brz had va^as ' in Rig-veda VII, 96, 1 in the technical sense of Brzhat-tune, as is done by Prof. Hillebrandt, in his interesting essay, ' Die Sonnwendfeste in Alt-Indien,' p. 29, merely because it is used there in connection with Indra ; whilst he himself is doubtful as to whether it should be taken in the same sense in III, 10, 5 where it occurs in connection with Agni. Though the Brihat- saman is no doubt frequently referred to Indra, and the Rathantara to Agni, the couplets ordinarily chanted to them (Rig-veda VI, 46, 1-2 and VII, 32, 22, 23) are both of them addressed to Indra. Both tunes are, however, applied to verses addressed to all manner of deities.
1 See Catalogue of Sanskrit MSS. of the India Office, No. 434. In Kaush. Br. XI, 8, l sadasy ukthani ^asyante,' also, the word has undoubtedly the sense of .yastra, or (recited) hymn. In part i, p. 346, note 3 of this translation read ' great recitation or .fastra,' instead of ' great chant.'
XVI SATAPATHA-ERAHMAiVA.