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264
SATAPATHA-BRAHMANA.
2
layer the Asapatnâs, Nâkasads and Pañkakûdâs 1‚·these kept going out upwards (from Pragâpati, the altar). Pragâpati was afraid of them, thinking, 'Whilst moving away, these will go beyond this universe. Having become the Orderer, he went round them and established himself in them.
37. Now the same as that Orderer is yonder sun; and that which was the farthest gone of the regions is that in which that (sun) shines firmly established.
38. And the same as that Orderer is this cake to the Orderer on twelve potsherds. On twelve potsherds (it is), the year is (of) twelve months, Pragâpati is the year, and Pragâpati is the Orderer. And that one which was the farthest gone of the regions is the same as these previous oblations,-- a pap to Anumati, a pap to Râkâ, a pap to Sinivali, and a pap to Kuha: when he prepares these oblations, he thereby establishes him (Pragapati) in that which was the farthest gone of the regions. That (cake) he offers whole, for the completeness of that (Pragâpati).
39. These are goddesses, for they are the regions,
For the Asapatnâs, laid down near the ends of the spines, to drive off evil in all four quarters, see VIII, 5, 1, 1; for the other two kinds of bricks, expressly identified with the regions, see VIII, 6, I, I seq.
That is, the altar was so full of regions that they escaped at the top.
These deities are supposed to be personifications of the four phases of the moon; whilst Prof: Weber (Ind. Stud. XIII, p. 29c) would also take the Orderer (dhâtri)—by the Brâhmana identified with the sun-to represent the moon. On Sinîvalî (identified with Vâk, VI, 5, 1, 9), see also A. Kuhn, Zeitschr. f. v. Sprachf. II, p. 120; Weber, Ind. Stud. V, 230. Anumati is identified with the earth, V, 2, 3, 4.
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