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 905

I KÂNDA, 3 ADHYAYA, 1 BRAHMANA, 17. 73 thus that noose of Varuna does not injure her. This is the reason why he girds her over the garment.
15. He girds her, with the text (Våg. S. I, 30), 'A zone art thou for Aditi!' Aditi, indeed, is this earth. She is the wife of the gods, and that one is his (the sacrificer's) wife. It is for the latter, accordingly, that he makes it a zone instead of a noose (or string). A zone means a girdle, and he thereby makes it this for her.
16. Let him not make a knot?, for the knot is Varuna's (attribute); and Varuna would lay hold on the (sacrificer's) wife, if he were to make a knot. For this reason he does not make a knot.
17. He twists it through upwards, with the text (Våg. S. I, 30), 'The pervader 8 of Vishnu art thou!' Let her not sit to the west of the sacrifice, with her face towards the east. For Aditi is this earth, she is the wife of the gods, and she indeed sits on the west of the sacrifice of the gods, with her face turned
fold, ensnare him who speaks untruth, and pass by him who speaks the truth!'
1 Taitt. Br. III, 3, 3, 4, on the contrary, prescribes a knot (granthim grathnati), as the symbol which is to secure all blessings for her.
• He winds the cord round her waist from left to right (pradakshinam), and having fixed the southern end by twice twisting round the northern one, he draws the southern end through the encircling cord upwards (so as to hang down, uparishtal lambayet, Sâyana. Katy. II, 7, 1, &c., Scholl.).
• Veshya=vya paka, Mahidh.; perhaps a headband, St. Petersb. Dict. It is apparently an etymological play on the name of Vishnu (? the all-pervading sun). The formula, according to Mahîdhara, is addressed to the southern end of the cord which is drawn through the girdle (the pervading ray of Vishnu).
Aditi is the earth and therefore the altar, which represents the earth : hence Aditi, in the shape of the altar, looks towards the east.
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