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III KÂNDA, 3 ADHYAYA, 4 BRAHMANA, 25.
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Soma, and the offering is he himself who is consecrated: thus they have seized him between their jaws; and by this victim he now redeems himself1.
22. Now, some take a firebrand from the Ahavantya, saying, 'Here is Agni, and here is Soma: with these two thus being together we will redeem ourselves.' But let him not do this; for wheresoever these two are, there they are indeed together.
23. It (the victim) is two-coloured, because it belongs to two deities: For the sake of concord between the two deities let it be a black-spotted (buck)!' they say; 'for that is most like those two (gods).' If he be unable to obtain a black-spotted buck, it may be a red-spotted one.
24. Thereon he makes (the sacrificer) say (Vâg. S. IV, 35; Rig-veda X, 37, 1), 'Homage be to the eye of Mitra and Varuna! perform ye diligently this holy service to the god! sing ye unto the far-seeing, god-born light, to Surya, the son of the sky!' Thereby he renders homage to it (the victim) and makes it a token of the covenant.
25. The Adhvaryu then removes the Somawrapper. With (Vâg. S. IV, 36) 'Thou art Varuna's stay,' he props (the cart) with the prop. With 'Ye two are the rest of Varuna's stay,' he pulls out the two wedges. The reason why he says, 'Ye two are the rest of Varuna's stay?,' is that he, the bought Soma, now indeed is of Varuna3.
1 'By this victim he redeems himself, the victim, and with that redeemed self, now his own, he sacrifices.' Kânva rec.
* Skambha visarganî ('support or pin of the prop') is taken by Sâyana in the sense of 'offshoot of the prop' or 'that which is let go (srishta) by the prop.'
I.e. belongs to Varuna or is of Varuna's nature (varunyo
G 2
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