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SATAPATHA-BRAHMANA.
8. [He does so, with Vag. S. XII, 46] 'Concord thou art!' for thereby they agreed together1;-'fulfilment of desire;' for salt is cattle, and fulfilment of desire means cattle;-'In me may there be the fulfilment of thy desire!' that is, 'May there be on me cattle for thee!'-He covers with it the whole (circular) Gârhapatya; for the Gârhapatya altar is the womb, and the saline soil is the amnion: he thus covers the whole womb with the amnion.
9. He then scatters sand to keep (the saline soil, or amnion) from being scorched 2;-for sand is nothing else than the ashes of Agni Vaisvânara, and him, Agni Vaisvânara, he is indeed about to build up; and Agni does not scorch his own self.
10. And again why he scatters sand,-sand is nothing else than the seed of Agni Vaisvânara 3, and him, Agni Vaisvânara, he is about to build up; but nothing is fashioned from out of the seedless: 'May he (Agni) be fashioned from out of this seed!' so he thinks.
11. [He scatters it, with Vâg. S. XII, 46] 'Agni's ashes thou art! Agni's soil thou art!' for Agni's ashes are useless, and the sand is not useless: he thus makes it (the Gârhapatya hearth) to be useful. He covers with it the whole Gârhapatya; for the
1 Sâyana, on Taitt. S. IV, 2, 4, takes 'samgñânam' in the sense of 'knowledge, recognition;' explaining it from the fact that cattle by their smell recognise the places of saline soil and lick them.
Or, to keep (the fire) from burning over (or through the sand, and injuring the saline soil or amnion). For the construction, see p. 198, note 2.
This notion is apparently based on the supposed etymological connection of 'sikatâ,' sand, with the root 'sik.'
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| SR No. | 007681 |
| Book Title | Questions of King Milinda Part 01 |
| 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 |