________________
174
SATAPATHA-BRÂHMANA.
there is above the top-ring, - the gods called the * Blessed",'—their world he therewith gains; verily, whosoever thus knows this, he becomes one of the same world with the blessed gods.
26. That (sacrificial stake) he sets up on the fore-part (of the altar); for the stake is a thunderbolt, as the club is a thunderbolt. But in hurling the club one takes hold of its fore-part; and that (stake) is the fore-part of the sacrifice; therefore he sets it up on the fore-part (of the altar).
27. Verily, by means of the sacrifice the gods gained that supreme authority which they now wield. They spake, 'How may this (world) of ours be made unattainable to men?' They sipped the sap of the sacrifice, as bees would suck out honey, and having drained the sacrifice and scattered it by means of the sacrificial stake, they disappeared. And because they scattered (yopaya) therewith, therefore it is called yûpa (sacrificial stake). At the head stands intelligence, at the head swiftness of thought; therefore he sets it up on the fore-part (of the altar).
28. It is eight-cornered; for the gayatri metre consists of eight syllables, and the gayatri is the fore-part of the sacrifice, as this (stake) is the forepart of the sacrifice; therefore it is eight-cornered.
29. Now the gods once threw it after (the prastara into the fire) even as now some throw it after, thinking, 'So the gods did it.' Thereupon the Rakshas sipped the sacrifice (Soma) after (the gods).
30. The gods said unto the Adhvaryu, ‘Offer thou only a chip of the stake; thereby this (sacri
On the 'sâdhyas' see Weber, Ind. Stud. IX, p. 6, note 2.
Digitized by Google