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 1349

SATAPATHA-BRAHMANA.
344
scatters sand; for sand means seed, and in both (fire-altars) fashioning (of Agni) takes place: 'May he be fashioned from out of that seed!' thus he thinks.
10. He scatters it with two different formulas; for the Gârhapatya is the world of men, and the Âhavaniya is the world of the gods, and different indeed are the divine and the human. With the
longer formula he scatters it on the Âhavanîya, and with the shorter one on the Gârhapatya, for longer is the life of the gods, and shorter the life of men. On the Gârhapatya he scatters the sand before (the setting up of) the enclosing-stones; for sand is seed: 'May these be fashioned from out of that seed!' thus he thinks.
II. As to this they say, 'If the enclosing-stones are the womb, and the sand is seed, and the sand is strown on the Gârhapatya before (the setting up of) the enclosing-stones, how, then, is that seed of his not shed aside, (but) is received (by the womb)?' Well, the saline soil is the amnion, and inasmuch as he strews first the saline soil, that seed of his is not shed aside, but is received by that amnion. He now addresses the enclosing-stones on the Âhavaniya : the meaning of this has been explained'. He then scatters sand: sand being seed, that seed of his is not shed aside, but is received also by that womb.
12. And only on the Âhavaniya he strokes it (even) with two (verses) containing (the verb) 'to grow,' not on the Gârhapatya; for the Gârhapatya is this (terrestrial) world, and the Âhavaniya is the heavenly world; and this Sacrificer, being indeed
2 See paragraphs 45, 46.
1 VII, 1, 1, 14.
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