०९

स वा एष पशुरेवालभ्यते यत्पुरोळाशस्तस्य यानि किंशारूणि तानि रोमाणि ये तुषाः सा त्वग् ये फलीकरणास्तदसृग्यत्पिष्टं किक्नसास्तन्मांसं यत्किंचित्कंसारं तदस्थि ।

(The Relation of the Rice Cake Offering to that of Flesh. The Vapâ and Puroḍāśa Offerings).

The Puroḍāśa (offered at the animal sacrifice) is the animal which is killed. The chaff and straw of the rice of which it consists are the hairs of the animal, its husks[37] the skin, its smallest particles the blood, all the fine particles to which the (cleaned) rice is ground (for making, by kneading it with water, a ball) represent the flesh (of the animal), and whatever other substantial part[38] is in the rice, are the bones (of the animal).

[37]The husks, tuṣa, fall off when the rice is beaten for the first time; the thinnest particles, which fall off, when the grains are completely made bare and white by continued beating, are called phalikaraṇas.

[38]Kiñchitkam sâram. Kiñchitaka is an adjective of the indefinite pronoun Kiñchit, having, as Sây. remarks, the sense of “all.”

स वा एष पशुरेवालभ्यते यत्पुरोळाशस्तस्य यानि किंशारूणि तानि रोमाणि ये तुषाः सा त्वग् ये फलीकरणास्तदसृग्यत्पिष्टं किक्नसास्तन्मांसं यत्किंचित्कंसारं तदस्थि ।

सर्वेषां वा एष पशूनाम्मेधेन यजते यः पुरोळाशेन यजते ।

He who offers the Puroḍāśa, offers the sacrificial substance of all animals (for the latter is contained in the rice of the Puroḍāśa).

सर्वेषां वा एष पशूनाम्मेधेन यजते यः पुरोळाशेन यजते ।

तस्मादाहुः पुरोळाशसत्रं लोक्यमिति ।

Thence they say : the performance of the Puroḍāśa offering is to be attended to.

तस्मादाहुः पुरोळाशसत्रं लोक्यमिति ।

युवमेतानि दिवि रोचनान्यग्निश्च सोम सक्रतू अधत्तम्युवं सिन्धूँ रभिशस्तेरवद्यादग्नीषोमावमुञ्चतं गृभीतानिति वपायै यजति ।

Now he recites the Yājyā for the Vapā (which is about to be offered): yuvam etāni divi, i.e. Ye, O Agni and Soma, have placed, by your joint labours, those lights on the sky ! ye, Agni and Soma, have liberated the rivers which had been taken (by demons), from imprecation and defilement. (Ṛigveda 1, 93, 5.)

युवमेतानि दिवि रोचनान्यग्निश्च सोम सक्रतू अधत्तम्युवं सिन्धूँ रभिशस्तेरवद्यादग्नीषोमावमुञ्चतं गृभीतानिति वपायै यजति ।

सर्वाभिर्वा एष देवताभिरालब्धो भवति यो दीक्षितो भवति तस्मादाहुर्न दीक्षितस्याश्नीयादिति स यदग्नीषोमावमुञ्चतं गृभीतानिति वपायै यजति सर्वाभ्य एव तद्देवताभ्यो यजमानम्प्रमुञ्चति तस्मादाहुरशितव्यं वपायां हुतायां यजमानो हि स तर्हि भवतीति ।

The man who is initiated into the sacrificial mystery (the Dîkṣita) is seized by all the gods (as their property). Thence they say: he should not eat of a thing dedicated (to the gods).[39] But others say: he should eat when the Vapā is offered; for the Hotar liberates the sacrificer from the gods by (the last words of the mantra just mentioned) : “Ye, Agni and Soma, have liberated the (rivers) which had been taken.” Consequently, he becomes a sacrificer (a yajamāna), and ceases to belong as a Dîkṣita exclusively to the gods.[40]

[39]The text offers some difficulties; it literally means: he should not eat of the Dîkṣita, which latter word can here not be taken in its usual sense, “one initiated into the sacrificial rites," but in that of a thing consecrated to the gods. Sây. gets over the difficulty by inserting the word grihe after dîkṣitasya, and understands it of a meal to be taken in the house of a sacrificer when the Vapâ offering is performed.

[40]As a Yajamâna, he is allowed to eat again.

सर्वाभिर्वा एष देवताभिरालब्धो भवति यो दीक्षितो भवति तस्मादाहुर्न दीक्षितस्याश्नीयादिति स यदग्नीषोमावमुञ्चतं गृभीतानिति वपायै यजति सर्वाभ्य एव तद्देवताभ्यो यजमानम्प्रमुञ्चति तस्मादाहुरशितव्यं वपायां हुतायां यजमानो हि स तर्हि भवतीति ।

आन्यं दिवो मातरिश्वा जभारेति पुरोळाशस्य यजत्यमथ्नादन्यम्परि श्येनो अद्रे रितीत ।

Now follows the Yājyā verse for the Puroḍāśa (mentioned : ānyam divo mātariśvā (1, 93, 6), i.e., Mātariśvā brought from heaven another (Soma)[41], and the eagle struck out another (Agni, fire) of the rock, &c.

[41]This refers to the legend of Soma being abstracted from heaven by the Gâyatrî, in the shape of an eagle, or by Mâtariśvâ, the Prometheus of the Vedic tradition. See Kuhn, Die Herabkunft des Feuer und Göttertranks. Ait. Br. 8, 25-27.

आन्यं दिवो मातरिश्वा जभारेति पुरोळाशस्य यजत्यमथ्नादन्यम्परि श्येनो अद्रे रितीत ।

इव च ह्येष इत इव च मेधः समाहृतो भवति ।

(On account of the meaning of the last words “and the eagle,” &c., the verse is used as Yājyā for the Puroḍāśa offering.) For it expresses the idea, that the sacrificial essence had gone out and had been taken away (from man, horse, &c.), as it were, just as (Agni) had come out (of the rock).

इव च ह्येष इत इव च मेधः समाहृतो भवति ।

स्वदस्व हव्या समिषो दिदीहीति पुरोळशविष्टकृतो यजति ।

With the verse : Taste (O Agni) the offerings, burn them well, &c., (3, 54, 22), the Hotar makes the Sviṣṭakṛit of the Puroḍāśa.

स्वदस्व हव्या समिषो दिदीहीति पुरोळशविष्टकृतो यजति ।

हविरेवास्मा एतत्स्वदयतीषमूर्जमात्मन्धत्त ।

By this mantra the Hotar makes the sacrificer enjoy such an offering (to be granted by the gods in return for the gift), and acquires for himself food and milky essences.

हविरेवास्मा एतत्स्वदयतीषमूर्जमात्मन्धत्त ।

इळामुपह्वयते पशवो वा इळा पशूनेव तदुपह्वयते पशून्यजमाने दधाति ।

He now calls the Iḷā (and eats from the Puroḍāśa). For Iḷā means cattle; (by doing so) he therefore calls cattle, and provides the sacrificer with them.

इळामुपह्वयते पशवो वा इळा पशूनेव तदुपह्वयते पशून्यजमाने दधाति ।