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66
SATAPATHA-BRAHMANA.
people being the nobleman's food-it would be just as if one were to take hold of and pull out some (food) he has put in his mouth, and throw it away. Hence let him merely touch it, with, “Let the pickers pick thee!' Those pickers of his do indeed pick it.
9. He then spreads the cloth (over the ox-hide), either twofold or fourfold, with the fringe towards the east or north. Thereon he metes out the king (Soma); and because he metes out the king, therefore there is a measure,-both the measure among men and whatever other measure there is.
10. He metes out, with a verse to Savitri; for Savitri is the impeller of the gods, and so that (Soma) becomes for him impelled by Savitri to the purchase.
11. He metes out with an atikhandas-verse; for that one, viz. the atikhandas', embraces all metres; and so that (Soma) is meted out for him by means of all the metres: therefore he metes out with an atikhandas-verse.
12. He metes out, with the text (Vâg. S. IV, 25), Unto that divine Savitri within the two bowls?, the sage, I sing praises, to him of true
* Atikhandas (over-metre') is the generic name for the metres which number more than forty-eight syllables: hence it is said to include all the other metres which consist of fewer syllables. See VIII, 6, 2, 13, where the term is explained by atti-khandah (metre-eater).'
. Or, that divine invigorator of the two oni.' According to the St. Petersb. Dict., 'oni' would seem to refer to two parts of the Soma-press. Professor Ludwig takes it to mean 'press-arm' and the 'arm' generally, which suits very well some of the passages in which the word occurs. Here, in the loc. or gen. case, it can scarcely mean 'arms' (though Savitri's two arms are often referred to as dispelling the darkness and keeping asunder the spaces, cf. Rig-veda II, 38, 2; IV, 53, 3; 4; VI, 71, 1; 5; VII, 45, 2), but apparently refers to heaven and earth' being thus equivalent to
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