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 1125

II KÂNDA, I ADHYAYA, 4 BRAHMANA, 6.
293
clarified butter to be poured in, and having poured clarified butter into it, they anoint three sticks of asvattha wood with this butter and put them on the fire with the (three) Rik-verses containing the words “kindling-stick (samidh)' and butter (ghrita)';' arguing that thereby they obtain what has grown out of a samt? It is, however, only by (daily) putting (three kindling-sticks) on the fire for a whole year previous (to the Adhâna) that one obtains that object : let him therefore take no notice of that (practice).
6. And on this point Bhållabeya remarked, 'If he were to cook that rice-pap, this would assuredly
1 The three verses containing the words samidh and ghrita are Vâg. S. III, 1, 3, 4. Taitt. Br. I, 2, 1, 9-10 has them in the order 1, 4, 3; and does not give the verse Vâg. S. III, 2 (Rig-veda V, 5,1). As neither version of our Brâhmana makes any mention of this verse, it may be doubted whether originally it formed part of the Samhita. According to Kâty. IV, 8, 5-6 he (? the Adhvaryu) is to put on (the three kindling-sticks) with Vâg. S. III, 1, &c., one verse with each stick; whereupon he, (the sacrificer, according to the commentary) is to mutter III, 4; and according to ib. 7 'the Adhvaryu optionally mutters the second.' The Paddhati reconciles the different statements thus: he takes the sticks, rises and puts the first on the fire with III, 1; then sitting down he mutters III, 2; thereupon he again rises and puts on the second with III, 3, and the third with III, 4. The commentator, however, alludes to differences of practice in different schools as to this point.
The sacrificial fire, to be set up at the Âdheya, should properly be produced by means of two pieces of asvattha wood which has grown out of a sami tree. Sâyana remarks that the ritualists referred to in our passage consider that the cooking of the rice-pap takes place, not with the view of the latter being eaten by the priests, but merely to afford an opportunity for putting the kindling-sticks on the fire, and thereby securing to the sacrificer the benefits that would have accrued to him from the above mode of ignition. This view, however, is not countenanced by our author, who, on the contrary, favours the daily cooking of a mess of rice-pap for the four priests for a twelve-month preceding the Agnyâdheya, as a substitute for the production of the fire by friction. See Kâty. IV, 8, 11 (and Paddhati).
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