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SATAPATHA-BRAHMANA.
performing the sacrifice to the Manes, and therefore they now propitiate the gods.
38. They stand by the Ahavantya fire (worshipping) with two (verses) addressed to Indra [viz. Rig-veda I, 82, 2-3; Vâg. S. III, 51-52], since the Âhavaniya is Indra. 'The friends have eaten, and regaled themselves, and have shaken off (the enemies); the self-shining bards have extolled (thee) with their newest hymn: yoke, then, thy pair of bay steeds, O Indra! To thee, the splendid, we will sing praises, O bountiful one! Thus praised, do thou now issue forth, with well-filled car, agreeably to our desire! yoke, then, thy pair of bay steeds, O Indra!'
39. Thereupon they return to the Gârhapatya and stand by it worshipping with the verses (Rigveda X, 57, 3-5; Vâg. S. III, 53-55), 'We invoke the Mind with man-lauding strain, and with the hymns of the fathers.-May the Mind come back to us for (us to obtain) wisdom, vigour, and life, and that we may long see the sun!-May the divine race restore to us the Mind, O Fathers, that we may abide with the living kind!' They have indeed been performing the sacrifice to the Manes; but now they return to the (land of the) living: hence he says, 'That we may abide with the living kind!'
40. Thereupon he who has presented (the obsequial cakes) again shifts his sacrificial cord to the right shoulder and betakes himself (to the fire in the shed), and mutters (Vâg. S. II, 31), 'The
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1 the friends have shaken off (their intoxication),' Ludwig; '-they showered down upon us delightful gifts,' Grassmann; 'they shook their dear (bodies),' Sâyana; '-have trembled through their precious (bodies),' Wilson.
The Rig-veda has 'somena' instead of 'stomena.'
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