Dhammapada

SR No.: 007674
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Max Muller
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1881
Total Pages: 2540
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 45 MB

Page 1020

188
SATAPATHA-BRAHMANA.
15. He now maintains silence as long as the milking of the three (cows) lasts, for the sacrifice, doubtless, is speech : “May I perform the sacrifice undisturbed !' so he thinks.
16. When it (the milk of each of the three cows) is poured (by the milker from the wooden pail through the strainer into the pot), he (the Adhvaryu) consecrates it by (whispering each time) the formula (Vág. S. I, 3 b), ‘May the divine Savitri purify thee with Vasu's means of purification, well cleansing and flowing in a hundred streams!' for just as then (at the Soma-sacrifice) they clarify king Soma with a strainer, so he thereby clarifies (the milk)
17. He then says (Vág. S. I, 3-4), 'Which didst thou milk ?' 'Such and such a one,' (the milker replies.) “This one is Visvâyu (containing all life),' he (the Adhvaryu) says. He then asks regarding the second one, 'Which didst thou milk?' 'Such and such a one,' is the reply. This one is Visvakarman (all-doing),' he says. He then asks regarding the third, 'Which didst thou milk ?' 'Such and such a one,' is the reply. "This one is Visvadhầyas (all-sustaining),' he says. The reason why he thus asks is that he thereby bestows certain energies on them. Three (cows) he milks, for three are these worlds: he thereby renders them fit for these worlds. He is now at liberty to speak.
1 That is, when the milk has been poured through the strainer as before. The Taittiriya school make the mystic names (or epithets) of the three cows Visvâyu, Visvavyakas (all-embracing), and Visvakarman, cf. Taitt. S. I, 1, 3; Taitt. Br. III, 2, 3, 7. In the latter passage these names are, as here, identified with the earth, atmosphere, and heavens respectively. The milker, in replying to the Adhvaryu, apparently calls the cows by their ordinary names. Cf. p. 178, note 4.
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