________________
204
SATAPATHA-BRAHMANA.
with everything (required) he thus confers that highest form upon him (Agni);— with three thousand -Agni is threefold : as great as Agni is, as great as is his measure, with so much he thus confers the highest form upon him.
SECOND BRÂHMANA. 1. Now the one person which they made out of those seven persons ? became this Pragâpati. He produced living beings (or offspring), and having produced living beings he went upwards,-he went to that world where that (sun) now shines. And, indeed, there was then no other (victim) meet for sacrifice but that one (Pragâ pati), and the gods set about offering him up in sacrifice.
2. Wherefore it is with reference to this that the Rishi has said (Våg. S. XXXI, 16, Rig-veda X, 90, 16), “The gods offered up sacrifice by sacrifice,'—for by sacrifice they did offer up him (Pragâ pati), the sacrifice ;-'these were the first ordinances:'--for these laws were instituted first; 'these powers clung unto the firmament,'—the firmament is the world of heaven, and the powers are the gods: thus, 'Those gods who offered up that sacrifice shall cling to the world of heaven ;'
3. 'Where first the perfect gods were,'—the perfect 2 gods, doubtless, are the vital airs, for it is they that perfected him in the beginning when they
* Literally, those seven persons which they made into one person. See VI, I, I, I seq.
? It is difficult to see what meaning the author assigns to sâdhya' applied to minor classes of deities. * See VI, I, I, I.
Digitized by Google
