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 159

130
SATAPATHA-BRÂHMANA.
with such perfections, they may slaughter only goats, for they are easier to cook. And if they seize only goats, that for the Asvins is a red one. Then as to why he performs this sacrifice.
2. Now Tvashtri had a three-headed, six-eyed son! He had three mouths; and because he was thus shapen, he was called Visvarûpa (All-shape').
3. One of his mouths was Soma-drinking, one spirit-drinking, and one for other food. Indra hated him, and cut off those heads of his.
4. And from the one which was Soma-drinking, a hazel-cock sprang forth; whence the latter is of brownish colour, for king Soma is brown.
5. And from the one which was spirit-drinking, a sparrow sprang; whence the latter talks like one who is joyful, for when one has drunk spirits, one talks as one who enjoys himself.
6. And from the one which was for other (kinds of) food, a partridge sprang; whence the latter is exceedingly variegated : ghee drops indeed have, as it were, dropped on his wings in one place, and honey-drops, as it were, in another; for suchlike was the food he consumed with that (mouth).
7. Tvashtri was furious: 'Has he really slain my son?' He brought Soma-juice withheld from Indra?; and as that Soma-juice was, when produced, even so it remained withheld from Indra.
1 This portion of the legend is but a repetition from I, 6, 3, 1 seq. A few alterations are, however, made here in the translation.
? Or, 'Soma from which Indra was excluded' (apendra), as formerly translated; a closer rendering of the succeeding clause making this change desirable ;—even as Indra was excluded from the Soma-juice when produced, so he remained excluded from it (when it was offered up).
Digitized by Google