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 2272

xxvi
SATAPATHA-BRAHMANA.
adheres to his opinion that there is no atonement for such an offence. There can be no doubt, however, that the Agnikayana, at any rate, was not restricted to the Brâhmanical order?; and this passage, if it does not merely record a former sacrificial practice, has probably to be understood in the sense that one must not officiate for another at an Agnikayana which is to be followed by a Soma-sacrifice with the Mahâvrata. If the Sattra performed was one of the shortest kind, viz. a Dvadasâha, or twelve days' performance-consisting of a Dasaratra, preceded and followed by an Atiratra—the Mahâvrata was inserted, it would seem, between the Dasaratra and the final Atirâtra. Usually, however, the Sattra, like the Agnikayana, lasted a full year; the favourite form being the Gavâm ayanam,' arranged, in accordance with the progress of the sun, in two halves, an ascending and a descending one, divided by a central day, the Vishuvat. The Mahâvrata was performed on the last day but one of the year, the day before the final Atirâtra, being itself preceded (as it was in the case of the Dvadasaha) by a Dasarâtra, or ten days' performance. Now, the chief feature of the Mahâvrata day is the chanting,-in connection with a special cup of Somajuice, the Mahâvratîya-graha-of the Mahâvrata-sâman, as the Hotri's Prishtha-stotra at the midday service; this chant being followed by the recitation of the Mahad Uktham, or Great Litany, by the Hotri. The special feature, however, of these two ceremonies, which recalls the mystic Agni-Pragàpati doctrine, is the supposed birdlike form of both the chant and the litany. The Lord of Creatures, as the embodiment of all things, also represents the 'trayi vidya,' or sacred threefold science, the Veda. Accordingly, the Stomas (hymn-forms) of the single Sâmans (chanted
See, for instance, Sat. Br. VI, 6, 3, 12-15, where directions are given as to certain alternatives of performance at the initiation ceremony in case the Sacri. ficer is either a Kshatriya, or a Purohita, or any other person. The ceremonies connected with the consecration of the Sacrificer (IX, 3, 4, I seqq.) point chiefly to a king. * See p. 282, note 5 of the present volume.
See notes to pp. 110-113 of this volume.
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