Questions of King Milinda Part 01

SR No.: 007681
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: T W Rhys Davids
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1890
Total Pages: 2695
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 47 MB

Page 1050

V KÂNDA, 2 ADHYAYA, 3 BRÂHMANA, 8.
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the whole sacrifice !' thus he thinks, and hence there is a cake on eleven potsherds to Agni and Vishnu. Gold is the sacrificial fee for this offering); for to Agni belongs this sacrifice, and gold is Agni's seed. As to Vishnu, he is the sacrifice, and Agni forsooth is the sacrifice: nevertheless this is Agni's alone, therefore gold is the fee.
7. And on the following day he prepares a cake on eleven potsherds for Agni and Soma, and offers it in the same way as an (ordinary) ishti, for it was thereby Indra slew Vritra, and thereby he gained that universal conquest which now is his. And in like manner does this (king, the Sacrificer) thereby slay his wicked, hateful enemy, and in like manner does he gain the victory. 'May I be consecrated, when safety and security from evil-doers have been gained !' thus he thinks : hence there is a cake on eleven potsherds for Agni and Soma. For this (offering) a bull set at liberty is the sacrificial fee; for yonder moon ? they slay while setting him at liberty ? : to wit, by the full-moon offering they slay him, and by the new-moon offering they set him at liberty ;—therefore a bull set at liberty is the fee.
8. And on the following day he prepares a cake on twelve potsherds for Indra and Agni, and offers it in the same way as an (ordinary) ishti. Now when
1 On the identification of Vritra with the moon (and Soma), see I, 6, 3, 17. On the moon serving as food to the gods, see part ii, Introduction, p. xiii. According to a later conception, one kala (or sixteenth part of the moon's disc) was taken off each day during the period of the waning, and again added to it during the period of the waxing moon.
• Utsargam ... ghnanti; perhaps the former has to be taken here as infinitive (in order to set him at liberty) rather than as gerund.
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