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SATAPATHA-BRÂHMANA.
it is even in this (building of the altar) that this Yagus is built up' and secured (for Pragâpati).
4. And that vital fluid (essence) of his which flowed upwards (became) the Great Litany: it is in quest of that vital Auid that (the priests) go by means of the Rik and Saman. And when the Yagus marches in front in this (quest)?, it is in order to fetch something that that (Veda) goes— even as (one might say), “That one thing there is mine, I will fetch it, so does that Yagus go in front (or forward). That (vital Auid) they obtain in the course of a year 3
5. The Adhvaryu takes (draws) it by means of the Graha (Soma-cup); and inasmuch as he thereby takes (grah) it, it is (called) Graha". The Udgâtri puts the vital fluid into it by means of the (sâman of the) Great Rite (mahâvrata "); but, indeed, the
i Viz. inasmuch as yagus-formulas have to be used with the laying down of many of the bricks (the so-called 'yagushmatîs'). Whilst, in the case of the Rik and Saman, other rites are necessary to secure them for the restored Pragâpati, the Yagus is secured for him in the very act of building up his body, the fire-altar.
? The Adhvaryu priest has to do all the practical work connected with the sacrificial performance, the building of the altar, &c.; and inasmuch as it is with yagus-formulas he does so throughout, the Yagus is said here to take the lead; cf. X, 3, 5, 3.
Viz. by means of the sacrificial session of sacrificing, chanting, and reciting, called 'Gavâm ayanam' (procession of the cows), lasting for one year, on the last day but one of which the Mahavrata, or Great Rite, is performed.
• The particular cup of Soma here referred to is the Mahavratiyagraha, the special cup of the Great Rite; cf. X, 4, 1, 12 seq.
The central feature of the Mahâvrata consists in the chanting, at the mid-day service-as the Hotri's Prishtha-stotra-of the so-called Mahâvrata-saman. It consists of five different parts which,- like those of which the Mahad uktham, recited after it, is
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