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26
SATAPATHA-BRAHMANA.
or 'A broad-bottomed stone (grâvan) art thou!' For, just as there (in the Soma-sacrifice) they press king Soma out with stones (grâvan), thus here also he prepares the oblation (haviryagña) by means of the mortar and pestle, and the large and small mill-stones?. Now 'stones (adrayah)' is the common name of these, and therefore he says, 'a stone art thou. And 'wooden,' he calls it, because this one (the mortar) really is made of wood 2. Or, he says, 'a broad-bottomed stone (grâvan) art thou,' because it is both a stone and broad-bottomed. He adds: “May Aditi's skin acknowledge (receive) thee!' whereby he establishes a mutual understanding between it (the mortar) and the black antelope skin, thinking: they will not injure each other.'
8. He then pours the (two portions of) rice (from the winnowing basket into the mortar), with the text (Våg. S. I, 15 a): Thou art the body of Agni, thou the releaser of speech !' For it is (material for) sacrifice, and hence (by being offered in the fire) it becomes Agni's body. The releaser of speech,' he adds, because he now releases that speech which he restrained when he was about to take the rice (from the cart). The reason why he now releases his speech, is that the sacrifice has now obtained a firm footing in the mortar, that it has become diffused; and for this reason he says, 'the releaser of speech!'
1 Here, as in I, 5, 2, II (ha viryagñe 'tha sau mye 'dhvare), we have the simple division of the Srauta-sacrifices into oblations (of ghee, milk, rice, barley, &c.) and libations (of Soma). More usually the pasubandhu, or animal-sacrifice, is added as a third division. See also 1, 7, 2, 10.
The mortar (ulak hala) and pestle (musala) are to be made of very hard wood, viz. both of varana wood (Crataega Roxburghii), or the mortar of palâsa wood (Butea Frondosa), and the pestle of
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| SR No. | 007674 |
| Book Title | Dhammapada |
| 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 |