Satapatha Bramhana Part 03

SR No.: 007679
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Julius Eggeling
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1894
Total Pages: 2382
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 45 MB

Page 1198

XII, 3. COMMENTARY.
655
seems as though the smoke rising from the porridge (the earth) symbolises a cloud, and thus procures rain.
Stansa 34. At Kaus. 63, 8 other chaff of grain (phalikarana in Satra 7) is thrown into the fire) while reciting this stanza.'
Previously, in Sûtras 6 and 7, similar substances (tusha and kambaka) have been thrown into the fire, and cast aside with the left foot; see the note on XI, 1, 29. The stanza is extremely obscure, and I have lost confidence in the interpretation of it advanced in Contributions, Sixth Series, Zeitschr. d. Deutsch. Morgenl. Gesellsch. XLVIII, 576. Its purpose seems to be, rather, to cause the fire to blaze up anew, perhaps, in order to drive away demons. As the sky can assume different colours, and, especially in the morning, can drive away its blackness for the brightness of the dawn (Pada c), so the fire may be enlivened unto redness by sacrificing (chaff) into it. RV. X, 3, 1 d is almost identical with our Pâda c. The Paippalâda, suitably to the metre, reads åtmany in Pâda b, and rusantîm in c; for ápågait, see the passage in the Contributions, cited above.
Stanza 55 ft. With the remaining stanzas the bestowal of the brahmaudana and the concomitant gifts takes place (Kaus. 63, 22). The series of formulas beginning here are closely related to the sarpâhuti, AV. III, 27 ; Maitr. S. II, 13, 21; Tait. S. V, 5, 10, 1 ff. ; cf. Weber, Indische Studien, XVII, 295 ff. For the names of the serpents, see the notes on VI, 56 ; VII, 56, and Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, p. 94 ff. The expression gará mrityáve in the third line of the formula reminds us of the bahuvrîhi garamrityu, XIX, 24, 8 ; 26, 1; 30, 1. This suggests here a tatpurusha garâmrityú,
death from old age;' the passage would then mean, 'may he lead us to death from old age.' In stanza 59 the association of Vishnu with the dhruvá dis is remarkable: we should expect the ardhvá. For the association of Indra (not Yama) with the southern direction, see Weber, l. c., P. 296.
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