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III KÂNDA, 3 ADHYÂYA, 3 BRÂHMANA, 9.
71
He then draws it (the gold) back towards the sacrificer, and throws it down, with, 'Ours be thy gold !' whereby he (the sacrificer) takes unto himself the vital energy, and the Soma-seller gets only the body. Thereupon the Soma-seller takes it?.
8. He then makes him (the sacrificer) say on the she-goat, which stands facing the west, 'Thou art the bodily form of fervour,'--that she-goat was indeed produced as the bodily form of fervour, of Pragâpati ; hence he says, “Thou art the bodily form of fervour,' — Pragâ pati's kind,' because she brings forth three times in the year, therefore she is Pragâ pati's kind. “Thou art bought with the most excellent animal,' because she brings forth three times in the year, she is the most excellent of animals. “May I increase with a thousandfold increase!' Thereby he implores a blessing : a thousand meaning abundance, he thereby means to say, “May I obtain abundance !
9. With that (text) he gives the she-goat, with that he takes the king'; for agà (goat) doubtless
According to some authorities, the gold is again taken away forcibly from the Soma-seller by the Adhvaryu, after the sacrificer has uncovered his head (paragraph 12), and the seller is driven away by blows with a speckled cane. Kâty. VII, 8, 27. According to Apastamba (ib.), he buys off the Soma-cow with another cow, and then dismisses her to the cow-pen; and if the Soma-seller objects, he is to be beaten with a speckled cane. The Mänava-sQtra merely says, that they are to give the Soma-seller something for compensation. The whole transaction was evidently a feigned purchase, symbolising the acquisition of the Soma by the gods from the Gandharvas. The real bargain was probably concluded before the sacrificial performance. See also Haug, Ait. Br. Transl. P. 59, note 2.
3 While making over the she-goat to the Soma-seller with his left hand, he receives the Soma with the right.
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