13 Pleasant be thou to us, O Earth, etc., as in XXXV. 21. 14 Ye, Waters, are, etc., as in XI. 50. 15 Give us a portion, etc., as in XI. 51. 16 To you we gladly come, etc., as in XI. 52. 17 Sky alleviation, Air alleviation, Earth alleviation, Plants alleviation, Trees alleviation, All-Gods alleviation, Brahma alleviation, Universe alleviation, just Alleviation alleviation-may that alleviation come to me! 18 Caldron, strengthen me. May all beings regard me with the eye of a friend. May I regard all beings with the eye of a friend. With the eye of a friend do we regard one another. 19 Do thou, O Caldron, strengthen me. Long may I live to look on thee. Long may I live to look on thee. 20 Obeisance to thy wrath and glow, etc., as in XXII, 11. 21 Homage to thee the lightning flash, homage to thee the thunder's roar ! Homage, 0 Bounteons Lord, to thee whereas thou fain wouldst win to heaven! 22 From whatsoever trouble thou desirest, give us safety thence. Give to our children happiness and to our beasts security. 23 To us let Waters and let Plants be friendly, etc., as in VI. 22, 24 Through hundred autumns may we see that bright Eye, Godappointed, rise, A hundred autumns may we live. Through hundred autumns may we hear; through hundred antumns clearly speak through hundred autumus live content; a hundred autumus, yea, beyond a hundred autumns may we see. 17 Cf. the nearly similar verse in A. V. XIX. 9. 14 which ends ditterently By these alleviations, these universal alleviations, I allay all that is terrific here, all that is cruel, all that is wicked. This hath been calmed, this is now auspicious. Let all be favourable to us.' 18 Caldron he addresses the chief earthen vessel, the Gharma or Mahâvira (see XIX. 14) in which the offering of heated milk is prepared. This Caldron is glorified in A. V. IV, 11.1-6. See also Muir, O. S. Texts, V. 399. 21 The first line, addressed originally to Lightning personified, is taken from A. V, I. 13. 1. 24 The first two lines are taken from R. V. VII, 66. 16. Bright Eye: f the universe, the Sun; here meaning the glorified Caldron. Hundred autumns: alternating with a hundred winters and a hundred years' regarded as the natural duration of human life. Br impulse of God Savitar I take thee, etc. Spale art thou. 2 The priests of him the lofty Priest, etc., as in V. 14. For Makha thee, thee for the head of Makha! 4 Ye who were born the earliest of creation, Auts divine, may I duly prepare for you this day the head of Makha on the place of earth where the Gods sacrificed. For Makha thee, thee for the head of Makha! This Book and the two that follow contain the formulas to be used at the actual performance of the Pravargya ceremony, when the necessary animals, vessels, and implements have been brought to the sacrificial ground, and the propitiatory texts (Book XXXVI) have been recited by the priests. 1 I take thee: the wooden sacrificial spade, with which earth is to be dug to form two square beds for the chief Caldron, called Mahavira and Gharina, to rest on. Woman: abhri, spade, being feminine: see V. 22. note. 3 Heaven and Earth: the Adhvaryu takes up a lump of clay, the moisture of which represents the vapoury heaven, and the earthy portion the earth. The head of Makha: according to the legend related in the Stapatha and Pañchavimṣa Brâhmaņas, Makha (who appears as a malignant demon in R. V. IX. 101, 13 and perhaps X. 171. 2) was attending a sacrificial session with Agni, Indra and other Gods who agreed to share among them any glory that should accrue from it. The glory came to Makha who took it and was going to depart, but the Gods surrounded him and claimed their shares. He stood leaning on his bow when the string (gnawed through by confederate ants, according to the S. Brahmana) gave way, and the bow-end, springing upwards, cut off his head. This head, replaced by the Agvins, became the Pravargya, and when men offer this sacrifice they replace the head of Makha. See Muir, O. Sanskrit Texts, IV. pp. 124-129. Malidhara, however, without allusion to this legend (which is somewhat differently related in the two Brahmanas), explains makha by yajña. sacrifice, the head, or main essential of which is the Mahavira or chief caldron containing the heated milk. 4 Ants: meaning termites (Hindî dîmak or diwak. corrupted from upajihvika, an older form of upajika or upadiku, and found in the Rigveda), here erroneously called vamryah, ants or emmets, and white ants in English. Earth thrown up by them, a nest or hill containing some of the insects, is taken up and placed on a black-antelope skin. They are addressed as divine on' account of the wonderful power, bestowed upon them by the Gods, of producing water wherever they dig See The Hymns of the Atharva-veda, Vol. I. pp. 44 and 300, notes. A lump from a white ants' nest is used in the Atharva-veda ritual in connexion with a charm for diarrhoea, and as an' antidote against poison. See Bloomfield, American Journal of Philology, Vol. VII. pp. 482-484. An ant-hill has been employed also in the ritual of this Veda. See XI. 17, note. These white ants are addressed as the earliest of creation,' and it seems to be a fact that these Corrodentia or Pseudo-Neuroptera have been in existence from Carboniferous ages, while ants, which are Hymenopterous insects, do not occur before Tertiary times. See Chambers's Encyclopædia, Termites. Mahidhara explains the antiquity of their origin by their close connexion with the 'first-born' earch. Thee: the lump of earth. 5 Only so large was it at first. Duly may I prepare for you this day the head of Makha on earth's place where the Gods sacrificed. For Makha thee, thee for the head of Makha! 6 Indra's effective might are ye. Duly may I prepare for you this day the head of Makha on earth's place where the Gods sacrificed. For Makha thee, thee for the head of Makha! For Makha thee, thee for the head of Makha! For Makha thee, thee for the head of Makha! 7 May Brahmaṇaspati draw nigh, etc., as in XXXIII. 89. For Makha thee, thee for the head of Makha, etc., as in verse 6. 8 Thou art the head of Makha. Thee for Makha, thee for Makha's head! Thou art the head of Makha. Thee for Makha, thee for Makha's head! Thou art the head of Makha, thee for Makha, thee for Makha's head! For Makha thee, thee for the head of Makha, etc., as in verse 6. 9 Thee on Gods' sacrificial ground with stallion's dung I fumigate. For Makha thee, thee for the bead of Makha ! For Makha thee, thee for the head of Makha! For Makha thee, thee for the head of Makha! For Makha thee, thee for the head of Makha! 10 Thee for the True. Thee for the Good. Thee for the place of happy rest. 5 It: the earth. At first: when raised up by Vishņu in his Boar-incarnation. 6 Ye: he addresses the Pitikas, plants used to expedite the curdling of the sacrificial milk, and as substitutes for Soma plants when these are not at hand; a kind of grass, according to Mahidhara. Thee: the milk which he lays down on the antelope skin. 7 Murmuring the text from the Rigveda, the Adhvaryu and his assistants go to the Parivṛit, an enclosed shed or shrine, where he deposits the sacrificial apparatus, the most important of which is the Mahavira or chief caldron, two inferior caldrons being kept in reserve. Thee: he addresses the chief Mahâvira. 8 He touches and addresses each of the three caldrons. 9 He fumigates each caldron with horse-dung, addressing each in turn with the formula. 10 The heated vessels are lifted up, each being addressed. Thee for the True I raise thee, the first Mahavira, to gratify the truthful Sun. Thee : for the Good the second to please Vayu. Thee for the place of happy rest: the third to please Earth. For Makha, etc.: he sprinkles the three Mahaviras with goat's milk, addressing a formula to each. For Makha thee, thee for the head of Makha! For Makha thee, thee for the head of Makha! For Makha thee, thee for the head of Makha! 11 For Yama thee. ardour thee. For Makha thee. For Surya's fervent May Savitar the God with balm anoint thee. Guard thou the touches of the earth. Flame art thou; thou art radiance; thou art beat. 12 Unconquerable, eastward, in Agni's overlordship, give me life. Rich in sons, southward, in Indra's overlordship give me offspring. Fair-seated, westward, in God Savitar's overlordship, give me sight. Range of hearing, northward, in Dhâtar's overlordship, give me increase of wealth. Arrangement, upward, in Brihaspati's overlordship, give me energy. From all destructive spirits guard us. Thou art Manu's mare. 13 All-hail! By Maruts be thou compassed round. Guard the sky's touches. Mead, mead, mead. 14 Germ of the Gods, Father of hymns, all living creatures' guardian Lord, Radiant, with radiant Savitar united, with the Sun he shines. 15 Agni combined with flaming fire, combined with Savitar divine, hath shone together with the Sun. 11 Directed by the Brahman priest, the Adhvaryn besprinkles the chief Mahivira three times, consecrating it to Yama, here said to mean the Sun. to Makha or Sacrifice, also meaning the Sun, and to the Sun's heat, the Mahavira being regarded as the representative of the Sun in these three forms. May Savitar, etc.: he anoints the Mahâvîra with sacrificial butter. Guard thou, etc.: he addresses a silver plate which has been put under the Mahavira to protect it from the evil spirits that infest the earth. It has also been covered with a plate of gold. 12 The Adhvaryu makes the Sacrificer recite the seven following for. mulas addressed to Earth. Dhâtar: the Ordainer; Creator. Manu's mare: bearer of the representative man and father of the human race, here represented by the Mahavira. 13 He surrounds the Mahâvira with ashes and coals, and above them lays thirteen pieces of Vikankata wood, representing the thirteen months, the Pravargya being the year. By Maruts: that is, by us thy people. Guard, etc.: he addresses the plate of gold with which he covers the Mahavira. The sky's touches: meaning the Gods, according to Mahidhara, those who touch the sky. Mend, etc.: the three breathings which the Adhvaryu establishes in the Mahivira. 14 They fan the fire, walk reverentially round the Mahavira, and do obeisance to it as the representative of the Sun. 15 Agni: represented by the Mahâvira. 16 He shines on earth upholder of the sky and heat, the Gods' upholder, God, immortal, born of heat. To him address a speech devoted to the Gods. 17 I saw the Herdsman, him who never stumbles, approaching by his pathways and departing. He, clothed with gathered and diffusive splendour, within the worlds coutinually travels. 18 Lord of all earths, Lord of all mind, Lord of all speech, thou Lord of speech entire. Heard by the Gods, Caldron divine, do thou, a God, protect Here, after, let it speed you twain on to the banquet of the Sweetness for both the sweetness-lovers! Sweetness for 19 Thee for the heart, thee for the mind, thee for the sky, for Sûrya thee. Standing erect lay thou the sacrifice in heaven among the 20 Thou art our Father, father-like regard us. Obeisance be to thee. Do not thou harm us. May we, accompanied by Tvashtar, win thee. Vouchsafe me sons aud cattle. Grant us offspring. Safe may I be to gether with my husband. 21 May Day together with his sheen, fair-lighted with his light, accept. All hail! May Night together with her sheen, fair lighted with her light, accept. All-hail! 16 He: the Caldron identified with and sprung from the Sun. 17 R. V. I. 164. 31. The Herdsman: the Sun who surveys and guards the world; here represented by the Mahivira. 18 You twain: the Asvins. Sweetness: according to Sâya a and Mahidhara, madhu here means Madhuvidya, the knowledge of sweetness or mead ; that is, the esoteric lore of Soma which was unlawfully revealed to the Asvins by Dadhyach the son of Atharvan. See The Hymns of the Rigveda, I. 116. 12; V. 75. 1, notes. 19 Thee: the Caldron. For the heart, for the mind: for their purification. Fo the sky that we may obtain a home in heaven. We praise, is understood. 20 Accompanied by Tvushtar: favoured by the God who presides over procreation and the bestowing of children. This formula is spoken by the Sacrificer's wife.. 21 He offers a burnt oblation of Rauhiņa, a special kind of rice-cake, so called, it is said, because the Sacrificer thereby ascends (rohati) to heaven. |