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Satapatha Brahmana Part IV (SBE43), Julius Eggeling tr. [1897], at sacred-texts.com
10:1:2:11. Pragâpati was desirous of gaining these worlds. He saw this bird-like body, the Fire-altar: he
fashioned it, and thereby gained this (terrestrial) world. He saw a second bird-like body, the (chant of the) Great Rite 1: he fashioned it, and thereby gained the air. He saw a third bird-like body, the Great Litany 1: he fashioned it, and thereby gained the sky.
10:1:2:22. This built Fire-altar, doubtless, is this (terrestrial) world, the Great Rite the air, and the Great Litany the sky: all these, the Fire-altar, the Great Rite, and the Great Litany, one ought therefore to undertake together, for these worlds were created together; and as to why the Fire-altar is built first, it is because of these worlds this (terrestrial) one was created first. Thus with regard to the deity.
10:1:2:33. Now with regard to the body. The Fire-altar is the mind, the (chant of the) Great Rite the breath, and the Great Litany speech: all these one ought therefore to undertake together, for mind, breath, and speech belong together; as to why the Fire-altar is built first, it is because the mind is prior to the breathings.
10:1:2:44. The Fire-altar, indeed, is the body (trunk), the Great Rite the breath, and the Great Litany speech: all these one ought therefore to undertake together, for body, breath, and speech belong together; and as to why the Fire-altar is built first, it is because of him who is produced the trunk is produced first.
10:1:2:55. The Fire-altar, indeed, is the head, the Great Rite the breath, and the Great Litany the body:
one ought therefore to undertake all these together, for head, breath, and body belong together; and as to why the Fire-altar is built first, it is because of him who is born the head is born first; and hence, whenever all these are undertaken together the Great Litany, indeed, is accounted the highest (âtamâm) 1, for the Great Litany is the body (or self, âtman).
10:1:2:66. As to this they say, 'If all these are difficult to obtain together, what (means of) obtaining them is there?'--In the Gyotishtoma (form of the) Agnishtoma 2: let him perform offering with the Gyotishtoma Agnishtoma.
10:1:2:77. In this Gyotishtoma Agnishtoma the Bahishpavamâna (stotra) is (in) the Trivrit (stoma)--that is the head of the rite; the two other Pavamânas are (in) the Pañkadasa and Saptadasa (stomas)--they are the two wings; the Hotri's
[paragraph continues] Âgya (stotra) is (in) the Pañkadasa, the Prishtha (stotra in) the Saptadasa, and the Yagñâyagñiya (stotra in) the Ekavimsa (stoma)--they are the tail.
10:1:2:88. Now these two, the Pañkadasa and Saptadasa, have thirty-two hymn-verses: twenty-five of these are the twenty-five-fold body 1; and the seven which remain over are the Parimâd (sâmans), for these are the cattle (or animals), (for) cattle are sporting all around us (pari-mâd 2)--thus much, then, is the
[paragraph continues] Great Rite: thereby he obtains the Great Rite even in this (Agnishtoma).
10:1:2:99. And the Hotri recites seven metres--each subsequent one-versed (metre) increasing by four (syllables)--with the Virâg as an eighth: these (eight) consist of three eighties and forty-five syllables. Now by the eighties thereof the eighties (of the mahad uktham) 1 are obtained, for the Great Litany is counted (or recited) by eighties (of triplets); and of the forty-five (syllables which remain) twenty-five are this twenty-five-fold body 2; and where the body is there, indeed, are (included) the head, and the wings and tail; and the twenty (syllables which remain) are the insertion 3;--thus much, then, is the Great Litany: thereby he obtains the Great Litany even in this (Agnishtoma). All these (three) are indeed obtained in the Gyotishtoma Agnishtoma: let him, therefore, perform offering with the Gyotishtoma Agnishtoma.
285:1 Viz. inasmuch as the altar is built on the earth, and the latter forms its foundation. Comm.
286:1 The Mahâvrata-sâman and the Mahad uktham, as we have seen (p. 282, note 5; p. 111, note 1), are constructed so as to correspond to the different parts of the bird-like Agni-Pragâpati.
287:1 The combination 'âtamâm khyâyate' is, as it were, the superlative of 'â-khyâyate;' cf. anutamâm gopâyati, X, 5, 2, 10; and Delbrück, Altind. Syntax, p. 194.
287:2 The Agnishtoma may be performed in three different modes, according to the variation of stomas (or hymn-forms) employed for the stotras (or chants). In the Gyotishtoma the order of stomas is that set forth in paragraph 7, viz.: a. Bahishpavamâna-stotra in the Trivrit (nine-versed); b. Âgya-stotras, and c. Mâdhyandina-pavamâna-stotra, in the Pañkadasa (fifteen-versed); d. Prishtha-stotras, and e. Ârbhava-pavamâna-stotra, in the Saptadasa (seventeen-versed); and f. Agnishtoma-sâman (Yagñâyagñiya) in the Ekavimsa (twenty-one-versed) stoma, or hymn-form. In the Goshtoma, on the other hand, the succession of stomas is a. Pañkadasa, b. Trivrit, c. d. Saptadasa, e. f. Ekavimsa; and in the Âyushtoma: a. Trivrit, b. Pañkadasa, (c. d.) Saptadasa, (e. f.) Ekavimsa. Cf. part ii, p. 402, note 4; for the scheme of Stotras (and Sastras), ib. p. 325, note 2. The Agnishtoma is singled out here for the reason that the Mahâvrata-day takes the form of an Agnishtoma sacrifice.
288:2 Sâyana takes 'parimâd' here in the sense of 'a source of pleasure all around'--parito harshahetavah.--The Parimâdah are thirteen Sâmans sung (not chanted, in the proper sense of the word) by the Udgâtri, his two assistants joining merely in the Nidhanas or chorus-like passages. They are given, figured for chanting, in the Aranyagâna of the Sâma-veda (Calc. ed., ii, p. 387 seq.). This performance takes place immediately after the Adhvaryu has given the sign for, and the Udgâtri 'yoked,' the Mahâvrata-stotra or sâman (i. e. the Hotri's Prishthastotra of the Great Rite),--or, according to some authorities, before either the 'yoking,' or the Adhvaryu's summons,--and thus serves as an introduction to the central and chief element of the Great Rite, the Mahâvrata-sâman. According to the ritual symbolism, these preliminary sâmans are intended to supply the newly completed Pragâpati with hair (feathers) and nails; but the performance would rather seem to he a solemn mode of doing homage (upasthânam) to the different parts of the bird-like altar and the sacrificial ground; thus corresponding to a similar, though simpler, ceremony performed on the completion of the fire-altar in its simplest form, as described at IX, 1, 2, 35-43. On the present occasion the ceremony is performed in the following order: 1. near the head of the altar (the Âhavanîya fire) he sings the Prâna ('breath;' Sâma-v., vol. ii, p. 436); 2. near the tail the Apâna (downward-breathing, ii, p. 437); 3. 4. near the right and left wing the two Vratapakshau (ii, p. 438); 5. near the left armpit the Pragâpati-hridaya ('heart of Prag.,' ii, p. 499); 6. near the Kâtvâla or pit, the Vasishthasya Nihava (Sâma-v., vol. v, p. 602); 7. near the Âgnîdhra hearth the Satrasyarddhi ('success of the sacrificial session,' ii, p. 465); 8. 9. in front and behind the Havirdhâna carts, the Sloka and Anusloka (i, pp. 887-9); p. 289 10. towards the Mârgâlîya the Yâma (ii, p. 461); 11. 12. in front and behind the Sadas, the Âyus, and Navastobha (ii, pp. 450-51); 13. in front of the Gârhapatya the Risyasya sâman (ii, p. 324).
289:2 Viz. the body, as consisting of the ten fingers, the ten toes, the arms and legs, and the trunk.
289:3 Towards the end of the Mahad Uktham, in the portion representing the thighs, nine trishtubh verses (Rig-veda III, 43, 1-8, and X, 55, 5) are inserted as an 'âvapanam..'