Satapatha Brahmana

SR No.: 011120
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Max Muller, Julius Eggeling
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1987
Total Pages: 433
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 36 MB

Page 389

X KÂNDA, 4 ADHYAYA, 5 BRÂHMANA, 2.
363
5. It is regarding this that it is said in the Rik (I, 179, 3), "Not in vain is the labour which the gods favour;' for, in truth, for him who knows there is no labouring in vain, and so, indeed, the gods favour this every (action) of his ?
FIFTH BRÂHMANA. 1. Now the doctrines of mystic imports? The Sâkâyanins hold that 'Agni is Vâyu (the wind);' but some say that 'Agni is Aditya (the sun).' And either Sraumatya, or Halingava, said, 'Agni is no other than Vâyu: wherefore the Adhvaryu, when he performs the last work, passes into that (wind).'
2. And Satyayani said, 'Agni is no other than the Year; his head is the spring, his right wing the summer, his left wing the rainy season, his middle body (trunk) the autumn season, and his tail and feet the winter and dewy seasons-Agni is speech, Vâyu breath, the sun the eye, the moon the mind, the quarters the ear, the generative power water*, the feet (and tail) fervour, the joints the months, the veins the half-moons, the silver and gold feathers
1 Evam vidvân yat kurute tat sarvam yad yasmâd devâ avanti. Sây.
. Athânantaram upanishadâm rahasyarthânám adeså upadeså vakshyante. Sây. - Prof. Oldenberg (Zeitsch, of G. Or. S., 50, p. 457 seq.) takes 'upanishad' in the sense of worship.
That is, the concluding rites of the sacrifice,--tasmâd adhvaryuh yada uttamam yagñasamâptılakshanam karma karoti, tadaitam eva vâyum apyeti, tathâ hi, samıshtayagurhome deva gâtuvido gâtum vittvà gâtum ita manasaspata iti mantre s vâkı, svâhâ vâte dhâk svâhâ, iti vâyau dhâranam uktam. Sây. See IV, 4, 4, 13, where the sacrifice (though not the Adhvaryu priest) is consigned to the wind by means of the Samishtayagus formulas.
*Note the change in the relative position of subject and predicate from here.