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 1183

178
SATAPATHA-BRAHMANA.
sheep; and inasmuch as it is a he-goat, that is that of the goat. Thus when he slaughters this one, thereby indeed all those (five) animals are slaughtered for him. Whichever of these may suit him-either those five animals, or that (he-goat) for Pragàpati, or that one for (Váyu) Niyutvat —
16. Let him slaughter it at full moon. "Let him slaughter at new moon,' so say some, 'for Pragâ pati is yonder moon: during that night (of new moon) he dwells here (on earth) ?, and it would be just as if he slaughtered him while staying near.'
17. But, indeed, this (takes place) at full moon, for the victim is yonder moon, and him the gods slaughter at full moon 3: 'I will slaughter him at the time when the gods slaughter him,' thus he thinks, and therefore (he does so) at full moon. And, again, why at full moon ;—the full moon no
1 Sâyana here supplies 'let him perform that,'-eshâm karmanâm madhye yat karmasya sampadyeta tat kuryâd iti seshah; but he then adds, that the pronoun 'it' (tam) at the beginning of the next paragraph is caused by proximity of the Niyutvatîya.
* See I, 6, 4, 5. Now this king Soma, the food of the gods, is no other than the moon. When he (the moon, masc.) is not seen that night either in the east or in the west, then he visits this world, and here he enters into the waters (f.) and plants (f.). Thus Pragậpati is here identified with Soma, the moon, and food.
Cp. I, 6, 4, 12-13. "The full-moon oblation, assuredly, belongs to the Vritra-slayer, for by means of it Indra slew Vritra ; and this new-moon oblation also represents the slaying of Vritra, since they prepared that invigorating draught for him who had slain Vritra. An offering in honour of the Vriira-slayer, then, is the full-moon sacrifice. Vritra, assuredly, is no other than the moon; and when during that night (of new moon) he is not seen either in the east or in the west, then he (Indra) finishes in destroying him by means of that (new-moon sacrifice), and leaves nothing remaining of him.'
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