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 923

I KANDA, 3 ADHYAYA, 4 BRAHMANA, 6. 91
for the security of the All! Thou art a fence to the sacrificer, thou (art) Agni, invoked and worthy of invocation!'
3. He then lays down the southern one, with the text (ib.), 'Thou art Indra's arm for the security of the All! Thou art a fence to the sacrificer; thou Agni, invoked and worthy of invocation!'
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4. He then lays down the northern one, with the text (ib.), May Mitra-Varuna lay thee around in the north with firm law for the security of the All! Thou art a fence to the sacrificer, thou Agni, invoked and worthy of invocation!' They are indeed Agnis, and for that reason he says, 'Agni, invoked and worthy of invocation!'
5. Thereupon he puts on (the fire) a samidh (kindling-stick). He first touches with it the middle enclosing-stick: thereby he first kindles those (three Agnis). After that he puts it on the fire: thereby he kindles the visible fire.
6. He puts it on 1, with the gâyatri stanza (Vâg. S. II, 4), 'Thee, O Sage, who callest (the gods) to the feast, we will kindle so as to shine brilliantly; thee, O Agni, mighty at the sacrifice!' He thereby kindles the gâyatri 2; the gâyatri, when kindled, kindles the other metres; and the metres, when kindled, carry the sacrifice to the gods.
1 According to Sâyana, the two sticks or pieces of wood are put on the fire in a manner similar to that in which the two âghâras or sprinklings of clarified butter are made (see I, 4, 4-5); viz. the first in the direction north-west to south-east, and the second from south-west to north-east.
The gâyatrî is the first of the three principal metres, cf. p. 80, note 3. It consists of three octo-syllabic pâdas, of which Rig-veda I, 164, 25 says, 'The gâyatra, they say, has three flames (or firebrands, samidh): therefore it excelled in grandeur and power.'
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